South Lake Tahoe story gets international attention

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - International attention has been given to a story first seen on South Tahoe Now, prompting new agencies from San Francisco to England to call City Hall for the details.

On Monday, the first details were made public about a woman found inside a car under feet of snow along Cedar Avenue in South Lake Tahoe. The car she was in could not been seen and was hit by a City of South Lake Tahoe snowplow operator at 8:35 a.m. on February 17, 2019. Thinking he just hit a car, the driver called police as is procedure when City property is involved. The front blade of the plow pulled snow away from the car and police and staff started to shovel it out so it could be towed. To their surprise a woman's face was against the inside of the car's window when they reached the car with their shovels. They freed her and she got out. An ambulance had been called but canceled when she declined medical attention. The car was then towed.

A snow berm packed the car with snow on all sides and on top so doors were unable to be opened and the battery was dead so windows also could not be opened.

At a news conference today The City of South Lake Tahoe provided an
update to the story about the 48-year-old woman who was saved. She is homeless and her identity will not be released as a crime was not committed. She had been walking around the casinos and got tired.

According to the police report, she went to an acquaintance's car and fell asleep inside. She told police when she woke up, it had snowed so much she was trapped. From her estimate she was in the car four or five hours.

“We cannot stress enough how dangerous this kind of situation is,” said Ray Jarvis, Public Works Director, “For the woman in the car, for our snow plow drivers, for everyone involved. When it snows this much, being in a car isn’t safe, especially one parked in a snow removal area.”

“It wasn’t immediately apparent that the woman was inside the car,” South Lake Tahoe Police Lt. Dave Stevenson told the gathered reporters from television stations and newspapers in Reno and Sacramento. "When we realized someone was inside, everyone jumped in to help.”

"It could have turned out quite differently," said Public Works Director Ray Jarvis.

Jarvis stressed how important it is to remove car from city streets during snow conditions and cars parked in the roadway will be towed.

4-5 times a day during and after snow storms City snowplow operators have to stop plowing streets to take care of abandoned cars and junk in the road blocking their path. Each time they have to stop it is about 90 minutes of time used to get the car of out there so they can resume their job, something that affects the whole community.

For Jarvis it wasn't the first time he'd been involved in finding a car buried in the snow. When he worked for Mammoth Lakes a couple had been found inside a car, but the outcome was very different and they had died.

"Today we are celebrating what wasn't a tragedy," said Stevenson.

The press conference was put together by the City's Communications Manager Chris Fiore. He'd been fielding calls from New York and other places and thought it was a good time for media to get answers.