Teen Has Brain Surgery After SUV Crash

• Earlier story: SUVs Crash; 6 Rushed to Hospitals

A Sherman Oaks teen who suffered a brain injury in a violent crash of two sport utility vehicles is recovering from surgery, authorities said on Monday.

The teen, who was wearing a seatbelt, was the front-seat passenger in a dark-colored 1999 Ford Explorer which flipped in the collision Saturday. One of the four back-seat passengers suffered a broken leg in two places, said Det. Jennifer Ward of the Los Angeles Police Department Valley Traffic Division.

The crash happened on rain-slicked Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Plummer Street at about 11 p.m..

The driver of the Explorer, Michael Thrasher, 19, of Sherman Oaks, was turning west from Topanga Canyon Boulevard onto Plummer Street, when his car
was T-boned by a southbound white 2008 GMC Denali driven by Chazz Anderson, 24, of Chatsworth, Ward said.

Anderson was wearing a seat belt and declined medical treatment, Ward said.

Ward said the three females and one male in Thrasher’s SUV suffered minor to severe injuries and not all of them were wearing seat belts when the car flipped over from the impact. Their names were not released.

No arrests were made in the incident, and the cause of the crash remains under investigation, Ward said.

Anderson’s Denali struck the Explorer on the passenger side, Ward said.

Ward said the teens in the Explorer were friends and members of a band. She said she didn’t believe any of them were related, but the musical instruments inside the Explorer were damaged.

A fire department spokesperson said the “Jaws of Life,” a hydraulically powered rescue tool capable of lifting, spreading or cutting with tremendous force, was used to extricate the teens from the Explorer.