Bonita – An early Friday morning blaze sends 2 people to the hospital for smoke and burn injuries after they were caught inside and as fire engulfed their two-story home. The Bonita blaze was so powerful that firefighters where unable to enter the home. The two occupants where an elderly couple and both where transported to UCSD medical center for treatment. Fire fighters continued to search the home3 after the fire was extinguished at 5 am because they where told that there might be someone else still inside. There where 30 people living on the property and residents told authorities that the home did not have any power. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Firefighters said they will be looking at generators, candles or heaters as possible causes. More than 30 firefighters from Chula Vista, San Diego and Bonita fire departments responded to the blaze.
SAN DIEGO — Two drivers who where suspected of being under the influence were arrested this morning and two hit-and-run drivers are being sought by police officers after causing a multicar pileup on the 805 south near Market Street. Police officers blocked traffic for almost two hours Thursday morning while their investigation was underway.The crash began around 2 a.m. when a man driving a mid sized Saturn lost control and went drove into the highway median, according to police. The man’s vehicle came to a stop blocking the southbound fast lane of the freeway and was rammed from behind by a driver in a small Nissan Sentra who was unable to stop in time. The driver of the Nissan and his passenger were trapped in their car and had to be extracted with the jaws of life. The driver of the Saturn, 34-year-old Francis Rolan Samson Bueno, was later arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. He sustained major head injuries. The driver of the Sentra, Emmanuel Zapien, 23, was also arrested on suspicion of DUI. A third crash occurred when a 33-year-old Man stopped on the opposite shoulder and ran across four lanes to try and divert traffic from the crash. Franklin, who was putting flares on the road, was struck by another vehicle that failed to stop. The man suffered life threatening injuries. The vehicle that hit him is believed to be a 2001 BMW, either a 330i or a 325. The car is white and has damage to its right front right side. Police are actively looking for the driver of this vehicle. A fourth collision occurred in the traffic caused by the earlier wrecks. Another Man, who was driving a Honda Civic, was unable to avoid the stopped traffic in front of him and ran into an unknown vehicle, which drove off without stopping. Diaz suffered major injuries in that crash. In all, five drivers suffered major injuries and were hospitalized. The freeway reopened at 4 a.m.
EL CAJON — James Sikes was driving to his home in east county and was in his Toyota Prius on the I-8 freeway, when he accelerated to pass another vehicle. Sikes hit the gas, totally unprepared for what was to transpire next. “The gas just stuck,” exclaimed Sikes, 61. “The brakes would not work.” For more than 25 intense miles beginning near the park on Lake Jennings near Flinn Springs, Sikes tried frantically to slow down the Prius hybrid. At one point his speed surpassed 90 mph. A CHP officer ended up driving alongside and tried to coach Sikes over his PA system on how to get control of the car, a process that involved the brakes, the emergency brake. This incident is the latest report of acceleration problems in Toyota vehicles, which have been under intense scrutiny since August, when California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor and three family members were killed in a crash in Santee. In the months that followed, massive recalls have occurred, international attention has been focused on Toyota safety, and company officials have testified at congressional hearings. In the Saylor case, a floor mat in the Lexus ES 350 he was driving may have jammed the pedal and caused the car to speed out of control, according to a Sheriff’s Department report. Sikes said he had recently had the car serviced at the El Cajon dealership, including the brakes and will be returning tomorrow. Sikes said “I will never drive that vehicle again”
SAN DIEGO SUPERIOR COURT — The man charged with causing the death of Deputy Ken Collier of the San Diego sheriff’s by driving the wrong way on state Route 52 had traveled from a bar in north Oceanside and was driving impaired for at least an hour, a prosecutor said Wednesday. Deputy District Attorney Damon Mosler said Jose Pedro Lopez Jasso was “remorseless” when he was stopped by police about a mile past where Collier’s car had crashed. Lopez believed he was on Interstate 5, near Carlsbad, the prosecutor said. Lopez, 22, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence causing death and drunken driving. He faces a maximum of 11 years in prison if convicted of all counts. San Diego Court Judge Joseph Brannigan set Lopez’s bail at 3/4 of a million dollars. Mosler said Lopez is a Mexican national who had been deported to Mexico on other occasions. Collier, who was killed when his patrol vehicle slammed into a concrete abutment on an overpass and slid down a ravine Sunday morning. He was traveling on the highway with a passenger, dispatcher Ryan Debellis, who reportedly needed a ride into work because his car was not working.
ESCONDIDO — Debris scattered across the northbound lanes on I-15 close to state Route 78 has caused several wrecks and has severely slowed traffic Monday during the evening commute, according to a CHP spokesperson. A truck lost most of its load around 7 in the evening, causing the multi car pile up, which included several cars and a Semi-truck. The CHP said at least one ambulance has been sent to the site of the crash and at least one person suffered minor injuries. Traffic was stopped for about 30 minutes as officers cleared part of the freeway to allow traffic to start flowing again, the CHP said.
FALLBROOK — A pedestrian was killed Friday morning when they where hit by a school bus passing in front of a junior high school. The accident was reported at around 6 this morning on Reche Road in front of Potter Jr. High School. A California Highway Patrol spokesman said he did not believe the person who was struck was a child. Authorities are still determining the identity of the victim and will release the name once the family has been contacted. All traffic has been stopped and diverted between South Stage Coach Lane and Green Canyon Road in both directions while the incident is investigated further, the CHP said.
EAST COUNTY REGIONAL COURT — The driver Richard Alfred Daus, 74, who crashed into a Carl’s Jr. restaurant in El Cajon last month, was charged with vehicular manslaughter and driving while under the influence and could face 15 years to life in prison. The driver was arrested about 11 a.m. yesterday by El Cajon police. Daus who has prior duis and a history of arrests was charged under a section of state DUI law that calls for harsher sentences for people with a history of DUI’s. The drivers blood acohol content was nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08 percent two hours after the wreck. Randy Eugene Smith,66, who was killed in the crash, was a regular customer at the Carl’s Jr. in the Madison Plaza. Smith was eating breakfast at his reguklar corner booth when a Honda SUV driven by Daus slammed into the restaurant. The accident was caught on survelience tapes.
El Cajon – A 43-year-old man from El Cajon died was killed last night on La Cresta Road close to Mountain View Road, according to authorities. A 60-year-old woman who was passing on the right and driving a 2004 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, ran-over the man when he got out of his 98 Toyota Corolla while arguing with his girlfriend and fell into the traffic lane. The couple had just left a store near the intersection and the driver, a 51-year-old woman from El Cajon, was in the left-turn lane on La Cresta Road waiting to turn onto Mountain View Road.
SAN DIEGO — A woman was killed Today on Interstate 5 close to downtown when a taxi clipped the back of her vehicle and causing it to become overturned on the freeway, according to CHP officials. The accident caused a lengthy closure of all traffic on southbound Interstate 5 in the area. Brandon Garland, of the California Highway Patrol Office, said the crash occurred when a taxi driver, who was traveling about 65 mph made a lane change, moving from the No. 2 lane to the No. 4 lane, and clipped the left rear of the Chevy SUV driving ahead of it. The SUV overturned and came to rest in the lanes of southbound Interstate 5 just north of Broadway, Garland said. The driver of the Chevy sustained fatal injuries and died before she could be taken to a hospital. No one else was in the vehicle. Her name was not released. CHP officers diverted traffic from southbound I-5 to state Route 94 as the scene was being cleared and the accident was being investigated. “Whenever something happens here in the s-curve area of downtown it affects everybody,” he said.
El Cajon – Investigators say it is now possible that the floor mats had nothing to do with the car crash that killed the Saylor family. “It could be the floor mats. It could be the pedals. Or it could be the algorithms,” or how the vehicle handles faulty signals from its sensors, Folck said. “It’s just hard to know what it is.” A forensic mechanic who reconstructs accidents and vehicle defects for a living, Folck says the crash could well have been caused by a floor mat — just as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concluded. The bottom line is investigators still are not sure and Toyota might have jumped the gun with concluding that it was only the floor mats. So far Toyota has recalled 5.4 million vehicles for floor mat problems and 2.3 million vehicles for sticking accelerator pedals. Toyota has maintained that it has not identified any problems with electronics in its vehicles that could trigger the sudden acceleration, and no outside body has proven such a fault exists.
