Rescue personnel check with Evangelina Freenor and her husband Francis, center, after they rolled their truck Friday. The Pilot/Steve Kadel

A California couple escaped serious injury Friday morning when their pickup truck swerved off Highway 101 and overturned just north of Whaleshead Beach.

Francis J. Freenor, 75, and Evangelina Freenor, 77, of Windsor, Calif., were southbound in their 1999 Dodge Ram, with Francis driving, when they drifted toward the ocean, crossed a gravel shoulder, and ran up an embankment about 10:45 a.m.

The truck hit a tree and rolled back onto its roof, trapping the husband and wife inside. Soon two passing motorists stopped and rushed to their aid.

 Matthew Yates, 30, of Crescent City and Rob Cunningham, 28, of Santa Rosa, Calif., pulled both occupants to freedom through the passenger window.

Yates, who had a knife, cut Francis Freenor’s seat belt to free him.

“I don’t think he would have made it if I didn’t cut it,” Yates said. “He said, ‘I can’t breathe.’

“I just saw trees moving like crazy and then a truck coming out of the trees.”

Cunningham, who was headed home to California, said it was a natural reaction to stop and help. He expressed surprise and happiness that neither person was hurt badly.

Evangelina Freenor declined medical care, but her husband was transported by Cal-Ore Life Flight ground ambulance to Sutter Coast Hospital. Although he appeared to have suffered only minor cuts on his forearms, his wife was adamant that he see a doctor.

“You need to be checked out and I’m not going to take no for an answer,” she told him.

She said this was their first accident and, in fact, her husband never had anything more serious than a traffic ticket in his life.

“This is not a bad curve,” she said while surveying the accident scene. “I don’t understand.”

Evangelina Freenor was reaching for a friend’s female Chihuahua, 8-year-old Bébé, which she was dog-sitting, and did not see what caused the accident. However, she realized there would be impact once they left the highway.

“I knew it was going to happen when he got on that gravel,” she said.