CHP OFFICER REBOUNDS FROM CRASH BEAT PARTNER SAVES HIS LIFE AFTER TRUCK HITS HIS PARKED CAR ON FREEWAY.

Byline: CAROL ROCK Staff Writer

CASTAIC -- Thoughts of his infant son kept Highway Patrol Officer Bruce Turnn going as he was ferried by helicopter last week from the scene of a dramatic crash to Huntington Memorial Hospital.

On Monday, one day after he was released from the Pasadena hospital, he went to take a look at what was left of his squad car.

``The last thing I remember was getting back in my car,'' he said. ``When I was going in the helicopter, my little guy and my wife was all I could think of.''

Turnn was finishing up paperwork June 15 on a minor accident on the northbound Antelope Valley Freeway (14) in Acton.

His car, emergency lights flashing, was parked in the car-pool lane within a coned-off area when it was rear-ended by a Silverado pickup truck driven by Evan Wade of Canyon Country. Wade was traveling 70 mph to 80 mph when he went to retrieve his cell phone and he slammed into the back of Turnn's patrol car.

``I had just sat down inside my car, starting the impound paperwork,'' Turnn said Monday. ``The next thing, I woke up and I'm reclined back in my seat, looking the headliner of the car and noticing that it's creased. I see a paramedic hovering over me and hear people in the distance talking about the freeway being shut down and a helicopter landing. I thought I was having a dream.

``I asked him what the heck was going on and he looked at his partner, telling him I had repetitive questioning,'' Turnn said. ``I guess I'd asked him a few times before.''

Now home in Castaic with wife Jenny and 11-week-old son, Nathan, Turnn said that his beat partner of the last four years, Ed Jacobs, most likely saved his life after the crash.

``Ed heard the accident happen and jumped over the center divider, but couldn't see me in the car. I guess I was laid over the passenger side. He looked around outside and when he didn't see me, took a closer look and saw me hunched over. He said I wasn't breathing when he found me, so he straightened me up to straighten out my airway and I started sputtering.

``He pretty much saved me, I was pretty lucky.''

Turnn saw pictures of his car on the news from his room at the hospital and realized he was lucky to be alive. A 10-year veteran of the CHP, he says he joined the force to do something good.

``You want to do something that makes you feel good inside as well as do some good out in the world,'' he said. ``It's a great job. I've really grown to love it, I can't imagine doing anything else.''

Nursing a broken rib, Turnn jokes that a serious cut to the back of his head left him with a ``pretty attractive'' hairstyle. He also suffered a brain contusion, which doctors tell him will cause headaches and nausea for a while.

``My sergeant was giving me a bad time about the lengths I'll go through to get some days off,'' he said. ``All things considered, I'm doing pretty good, especially looking at that car.''

Thursday's crash was Turnn's second on-the-job injury. In 1999, he had stopped a speeding driver at the junction of the Golden State (5) and San Diego (405) freeways. He had just returned to his car when a motorist lost control and hit Turnn's patrol car before hitting the car he had stopped. Other than knocking his head against the car's shotgun rack, his injuries were minor.

Asked how he feels about people talking on their cell phones, Turnn laughed.

``That guy is the poster boy for why you shouldn't talk on a cell phone while you're driving. He didn't see me until he was about 100 feet away. People should focus on driving, that's pretty much it.''

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com

[phone]

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

(color in SAC edition only) California Highway Patrol Officer Bruce Turnn gets a first-hand look Monday at his patrol car stored at the Newhall CHP station. The car was struck last Thursday morning on the 14 Freeway.

David Crane/Staff Photographer