Four cars, front yard fence damaged in puzzling crash

A big-rig truck caused an accident that damaged four cars and a fence on Placentia Avenue near 18th Street on Friday, police said.

Two Costa Mesa Police officers investigating the accident said it took them a while to figure out what happened in the pinball-like crash.

They said that the large truck crossed the double-yellow lines into oncoming traffic to make a wide right turn onto 18th Street, causing a Lexus sedan driving the other way to swerve and hit a Ford Focus.

The Focus then hit a curb and lost control, careening through oncoming traffic and hitting a Ford Explorer before plowing into a white fence supported by a 2-foot concrete retaining wall, police said.

The Focus hopped the retaining wall and dismantled a section of the fence, police said. Homeowner Alex Hernandez and his family picked up fence pieces after the accident.

No major injuries were reported.

— Alan Blank