Bad GPS info hampers rescue after ATV crash on Stanislaus’ West Side

GPS coordinates that were miles away from being accurate hampered efforts by the California Highway Patrol, Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department and other emergency responders to find a man injured in an ATV crash Monday evening in the Diablo Grande area on the county’s West Side.

At least three people were riding quads on private property when a 47-year-old man who lives in Patterson rolled his vehicle and may have become pinned beneath it, CHP Officer Thomas Olsen said. The man’s injuries reportedly were assessed at the scene as minor, Olsen said, but he still was at Memorial Medical Center on Tuesday afternoon. The man’s name was not available.

A woman in the group of ATV riders had a satellite phone and reported the crash shortly before 6 p.m. She provided GPS coordinates from the phone, Olsen said, but when officers and deputies arrived, there was no sign of the group.

Air support was not immediately available, Olsen said, so searchers spent a few hours looking, without success.

A private helicopter company from Sonoma County was called to help, he said, and located the party about 9:30 p.m. “They were about eight miles west of Stuhr Road, way up in the hills.”

Within 20 minutes, the man was on the helicopter, being flown out of the hills. Another company, PHI, took him to Memorial. It’s unclear if the people with the crash victim also were flown out or drove out, Olsen said.

This story was originally published January 24, 2017 at 3:50 PM with the headline "Bad GPS info hampers rescue after ATV crash on Stanislaus’ West Side."