SAN DIEGO — A pedestrian was struck and killed overnight in the Midtown area on southbound Interstate 5. The man was on the highway just before midnight in the slow lane north of Washington Street when he was hit, officials with the California Highway Patrol said. He was declared dead about 11 minutes later. The driver involved in the crash, who was in a silver pickup, stopped, the CHP said. Just before the crash, police received a call that three men who appeared to be intoxicated were at the intersection of east Interstate 8 and Morena Boulevard and one of them was walking on the freeway on-ramp. Officers are investigating and have not yet determined if that man was the same person who was hit. The victim’s name has not been released.

LA JOLLA — Three teenagers walking on a Bird Rock sidewalk Sunday were seriously injured when a car driven by a man with a history of drug and alcohol abuse struck them, sending all three to the hospital, authorities said. Two of the teens were recovering at hospitals Monday, and Alani Aguerre, 14, was preparing for surgery, said her father, Santiago Aguerre. Alani suffered a broken left leg, broken left arm, broken pelvis and other injuries, her father said. “We were on our way to the hospital, and I wasn’t going to say anything to my wife, but I wasn’t planning to see my daughter alive,” said Aguerre, co-founder of the outdoor company Reef. “I thought we lost her.” She was carried about 20 yards on the car’s hood, thrown through a glass window and then pinned under the car at a scene described by witnesses as shocking and dreadful. The crash occurred on La Jolla Boulevard near Midway Street about 6:30 p.m. when a Chrysler New Yorker driven by Ronald Troyer, a 66-year-old transient, veered onto the sidewalk, striking the three teenagers and narrowly missing two others, San Diego police Detective Dan Wall said. Miles Polger and Ian Brininstool, the other teenagers injured in the crash, were still in hospitals Monday, said Lorne Polger, Miles’ father. Wall said Troyer’s car continued into The Cass Street Cafe & Bakery, hitting and injuring two patrons, Jeffrey and Sharon Macelli. There injuries do not appear to be life threatening, authorities said. The crash happened on a stretch of La Jolla Boulevard where a series of roundabouts have replaced five stop signs, narrowing traffic to two lanes from four. Sharon Smull Hinckley, who lives nearby and arrived shortly after the collision, called the scene “startling.” “People were shaken up and there was glass everywhere,” she said. Troyer, who was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, was convicted twice in 2005 for driving under the influence, according to records from the California Department of Motor Vehicles. Records show that Troyer was convicted three times — in 2006, 2007 and 2008 — for driving with a suspended or revoked license. His license has been suspended seven times since 2004. He does not have a current driver’s license, records show. Aguerre, who with his brother sold Reef to VF Corp. in 2005, said he hoped the crash would send a message that more needs to be done to prevent people with a history of abusing drugs and alcohol from driving. “It’s like releasing a serial killer from prison, handing them a gun and sending them off on their own,” Aguerre said. “Everybody tolerates it until it happens to them. Then it’s real.”

Friends and former classmates gathered Tuesday night to mourn two Cathedral Catholic High School graduates who died in a fiery car crash near Bishop the previous day and pray for three who were critically burned. Amanda Post and Natalie Nield were killed, and two fellow graduates — Derek Randal Thomas, 19, and Drew Constantine Delis, 22, both of Encinitas — were hospitalized. An unidentified athletic trainer also was receiving medical care. Their SUV struck a van carrying athletes from California Baptist University in Riverside about 8:20 p.m. on U.S. Highway 395, killing its driver and injuring about a dozen passengers. The burning SUV was then hit by a Subaru, whose driver suffered minor burns. The accident sparked an outpouring of grief and hope: Family members asked the public to pray for the injured to survive. Current and former classmates expressed shock through Facebook, Twitter and text messages. Hundreds of people went to Cathedral Catholic’s chapel in Carmel Valley on Tuesday to mourn, including an overflowing crowd for a 6 p.m. service. They wept, hugged, shuffled into pews lined with boxes of tissue. Post “was a star in everything she did,” friend Katie Schrimpf said at the school Tuesday night. “She would walk in and light up a room.” Others described Thomas as having a vibrant personality. “He was the nicest guy and a star football player,” said friend Grant Duguid. “You could ask everyone in the school if they knew him and you would get a ‘yes.’ Everyone here knew who he was … because of who he was.” Counselors will be on campus today and Thursday to assist students and employees dealing with the tragedy, the school’s officials said. Abbreviated yet emotional comments posted online show the close relationship that students shared with the victims. Facebook pages have been created as tributes to the victims. One was titled “Pray for Derek Thomas”; on another, someone wrote, “Natalie Nield and Amanda Post. We love you.” Other Facebook comments included: “Amanda, this post is for you. Y can’t I just let go?” and “DRock, u r the man, dude. Stay strong everyone is praying for u!” and “Rest in Paradise Amanda Post and Natalie Nield. We’re all going to miss you.” Post, Nield, Delis and Thomas were honored as scholars and athletes during their high school years. Delis graduated first, and the others graduated this spring. The four ran track or cross-country, so the tragedy was especially hard for those involved with those school teams, said Dan Geiger, the girls varsity track coach at Cathedral Catholic. He described the former students as “some of the nicest kids you’d ever want to meet.” “The team is unbelievably close,” an emotional Geiger said Tuesday afternoon. “You have 15 to 20 girls who are like sisters. Now some of them are like little sisters who just lost their big sisters.” Geiger said social network sites “got the word out fast” about the collision in Bishop. “I actually think technology has been a benefit in this situation,” he said. “It has allowed people to kind of grieve together.” Post was set to run track and cross country at one of the California Poly colleges in the fall. Nield was planning to run at Loyola Marymount University. Geiger said he thought Thomas was preparing to attend the University of San Diego and play on its football team. Delis, an economics major at the University of San Diego, played men’s soccer for the school, according to a team roster on the university’s website. He transferred to USD from the University of California Santa Cruz. Patricia Augustine, a neighbor of Amanda Post’s family, said the young woman “was a beautiful girl and they’re a beautiful family.” “The whole neighborhood is in shock,” Augustine said. The California Highway Patrol said Post, Nield, Delis, Thomas and the fifth person were in a Ford Expedition traveling south on U.S. Highway 395 five miles south of Bishop when the crash occurred. The SUV went out of control, overturned across the center divider and slid onto oncoming traffic. Its undercarriage collided with a northbound Ford Econoline van. The SUV burst into flames. An officer pulled one person from the flaming vehicle but was unable to rescue a second person, who died in the fire. A third person thrown from the SUV died of burns at the scene. The remaining two people in the Expedition were burned and suffered other injuries. The van’s driver, Wendy Rice, 35, of Corona, died in the crash. She was entering her fourth year as the cheerleading coach at California Baptist University. Two other Cal Baptist vans traveling with hers were not involved in the accident.

SANTEE — A man was being treated for burns to his hands after a mattress caught fire in a house Thursday, authorities said. The blaze was reported shortly before 11 a.m. at the home on Cadwell Road near Lasso Way, said Santee Fire Division Chief Brett Eldridge. When firefighters arrived, smoke was pouring from the bedroom window of the single-story house. The homeowner’s roommate was able to get out of the house on his own, but suffered burns and smoke inhalation. Several cats also escaped. Crews were able to extinguish the flames within five to 10 minutes. The victim told firefighters that he noticed problems with the lights in the bedroom, and he went to the circuit breaker to check out the situation. When he returned, he saw the room had caught fire, Eldridge said. The cause is believed to be a faulty electrical cord behind the bed. The blaze caused an estimated $35,000 to $40,000 in damage.

SAN DIEGO — A 2-year-old boy was mauled to death by his family’s dog late Saturday morning inside a Tierrasanta home, police said. The incident happened at 11:33 a.m. at a house on Lofberg Street in a military housing area just east of Interstate 15, said San Diego Police Department Sgt. Ray Battrick. The boy, Aaron Carlson, was attacked in an upstairs bedroom in front of some or all of his three siblings: a 3-year-old brother and 5- and 7-year-old sisters, said police Lt. Rick O’Hanlon. Their mother was laying on the downstairs couch of the two-story duplex when the oldest child alerted her to what happened, the lieutenant added. The father is a serviceman deployed overseas. The victim was taken to Rady Children’s Hospital but couldn’t be saved, Battrick said. “No criminal charges are pending,” O’Hanlan said. “It appeared the dog caused the injuries to the child. What provoked the animal to do this is unknown at this point.” He said it was his understanding that there was no previous problem with the dog, a 1.5-year-old shepherd mix that the family has owned for about six months. Authorities are investigating the incident, and the dog has been secured and will be taken away by animal control officers. Military security officers have restricted access to streets leading to the family’s home. “At this point, it appears to be a horrible tragedy,” O’Hanlon said.

NATIONAL CITY — Police are looking for armed carjackers who shot a man five times in the back, leaving him critically wounded, and then may have staged another violent robbery in Ocean Beach. The 26-year-old victim, identified by police as Sean Simpson, had just gotten home from a friend’s house and was in the parking lot of his gated apartment on J Avenue near East Third Street about 1:10 a.m. when he was approached by two men, National City police Sgt. Mike Harlan said. Residents reported hearing gunshots and Simpson yelling for help, and when police arrived they found him lying on the ground. Simpson, who had just celebrated his birthday Wednesday, was not able to provide police with a description of the men, the sergeant said. Detectives taped off the parking lot, where they found numerous shell casings and interviewed several neighbors looking for witnesses. The car was described as a four-door, 2004 gray Toyota Corolla with California plates 5HLJ716. It is registered to Simpson’s fiancee’s mother, Harlan said. Simpson was rushed to an emergency room, where he underwent surgery and was listed in critical condition. “He’s fighting for his life,” Harlan said. About two hours later, three men in a similar vehicle pulled up to the Ocean Beach International Hostel on Newport Avenue near Cable Street, San Diego police Lt. Andra Brown said. Two of them got out and approached three women in their 20s visiting from Dublin, Ireland, who were sitting on the front steps, Brown said. One of the men grabbed one of the women by the arm, put a handgun against her cheek and told her to hand over her purse, Brown said. She thought at first that the man was joking and that the gun was a toy, but when she didn’t comply he got very aggressive with her, Brown said. He pressed the gun harder into her face and said, “Give me the (expletive) bag or I’ll shoot you,” the lieutenant said.
The men took the purses of all three women and drove off. The tourists, who were visiting friends at the hostel and staying elsewhere, lost phones, wallets and their passports, Brown said. The car was last seen heading east on Newport. The thieves were described as black, 20 to 25 years old, about 5 feet 9 to 6 feet tall, wearing dark hooded sweatshirts and gray bandannas covering their faces. National City and San Diego police detectives are working together on the case and are asking for the public’s help. “These crimes are very vicious, brutal and senseless,” Sgt. Mike Harlan said.

SAN DIEGO — The man who fell some 50 feet from aloft on the Star of India died from injuries he suffered in the fall, the Medical Examiner’s Office said Wednesday. It still has not been determined, however, if 68-year-old Gregory Gushaw of Coronado suffered a heart attack or other medical emergency prior to the Sunday morning accident, investigators said. A witness who saw Gushaw in the rigging just seconds before he fell said it appeared that may have been the case. An autopsy found that the Gushaw died from blunt force injuries of his head, neck and chest. He was rescued in minutes from the water by fellow volunteers who performed CPR on him after the 10:15 a.m. accident but he died at a hospital about 40 minutes later. An investigator with the Medical Examiner’s Office said that the complete report will most likely not be completed for two to three weeks. Gushaw was a beloved, long-time volunteer and docent for the Maritime Museum. He was undergoing a training exercise on the rigging and was moving from one point to the other when he fell, hit his head on the ship and landed in the water.

Kerry Steigerwalt’s Pacific Law Center, the highly visible firm with its ubiquitous television ads, has stopped taking new clients and is “winding down” its business, the firm’s owner said Wednesday. Steigerwalt, a well-known San Diego defense attorney who bought a majority interest in the firm in 2008, said that he broke the news to his staff during a morning meeting at the University City-based firm and advised them to focus on current cases. He said the economic downturn and the company’s business model of “little or no money down” contributed to the firm’s money woes. “Our model is predicated on people making payments,” Steigerwalt said in a telephone interview. “Fewer and fewer people have money to hire us, and those that do are not paying. It just became a managerial nightmare.” Steigerwalt said the firm, which has offices in San Diego, Chula Vista and Escondido, isn’t going out of business. Despite some staff reductions, he said, the lawyers working there are well-equipped to represent existing clients to the fullest. “At this point in time, I want to take no further cases,” he said. “I want to begin winding down this business.” The 17 attorneys listed on the firm’s website represent hundreds of clients in criminal cases, bankruptcies, loan modifications and personal injury lawsuits. The firm has 107 employees after staff cuts in February, The lawyers, including Steigerwalt, are featured in the law center’s frequently running television commercials in which they promote aggressive representation for “little or no money down” and affordable payment plans. Testimonials from clients also are used in the ads. Steigerwalt said he called local television stations Wednesday and told them to stop running the ads. Steigerwalt bought 51 percent of Pacific Law Center in March 2008. Former managing partner, Robert Arentz, had a 49 percent stake. Steigerwalt later became sole owner. Before he bought a stake in Pacific Law Center, the firm had been dogged by complaints from clients and allegations of unethical activity by former lawyers. The problems continued to some degree after Steigerwalt came on board. Clients had filed lawsuits against the firm, as did a former attorney who claimed that the sale to Steigerwalt was a fraud. Steigerwalt said he believes he successfully turned the firm around and that its old reputation was not a factor in the decision to stop taking new clients. Kerry Armstrong, a defense lawyer who worked for Steigerwalt for 11 years but did not work at Pacific Law Center, said Wednesday’s announcement was inevitable. “I knew it was coming; I just didn’t know when,” Armstrong said. Armstrong said the firm was hamstrung by its business model and a poor reputation that changed little despite Steigerwalt’s efforts. “I think Kerry really wanted to change it when he went in,” Armstrong said. “He just didn’t put the right people in place to do it for him.”

SAN DIEGO — A 3-year-old boy was struck by a car and killed Friday in Encanto, police said. The toddler was being watched by his 12-year-old brother when the crash occurred on Madrone Avenue near Woodman Street shortly before noon, San Diego police said. The older boy told his little brother to stay on the sidewalk while he crossed the street to get a dog, but the toddler apparently didn’t listen and went into the road, police said. The boy was struck by a green Toyota Corolla and killed. His name has not been released. The car’s 19-year-old driver reportedly left the scene momentarily but came back, said San Diego police Sgt. Ray Battrick. The crash remains under investigation.

SAN MARCOS — While the Sheriff’s Department investigates what caused a Fourth of July fireworks display in San Marcos to go awry, witnesses to the accident are questioning how close is too close when it comes to watching pyrotechnics. Investigators said the firework apparently malfunctioned, shooting sideways and ricocheting off a caretaker’s home in Bradley Park before blasting into a group of nearby spectators Sunday night. The 9:20 p.m. incident occurred before the grand finale could be fired off and abruptly put an end to the show. An estimated 4,000 people were in attendance, with another 7,000 to 8,000 viewing the fireworks in the general vicinity, city spokeswoman Jenny Peterson said Tuesday. San Elijo resident Joe Silva was lying in a nearby baseball field with his wife and children. The technicians doing the show seemed to be having trouble from the beginning, with awkward stops and starts, Silva said. Then he saw the flash about three feet off the ground. “People started screaming,” he said. “I saw a lady holding a kid saying, ‘Help us! Help us!’” When the firework hit the building, it split into two pieces, said witness Jared Wyrick, who was at the home’s fence line with his 13-year-old son, Kane. One piece of explosive then hit the ground and struck a man sitting in a red chair. He jumped up and was screaming in pain as flames licked at his back. People pounded on him to put out the fire. The second piece hit a man in a lounge chair. “It was a large fireball. It was very frightening,” said Wyrick, who lives in Carlsbad. One person was taken to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido with minor burns and was later released. Three others were treated at the scene. Investigators with the sheriff’s bomb/arson unit were finishing interviews Tuesday with witnesses and examining photographs taken during the accident, Sgt. Everard Dayrit said. The findings will be turned over to the Office of the State Fire Marshal, which regulates fireworks shows. Pyro Spectaculars by Souza, the Rialto-based company that put on the show, didn’t return phone calls Tuesday. The $20,000 show, funded through community donations, has been held for the past 25 years without incident, city officials said. Mayor Jim Desmond, who witnessed the explosion in the park, said it’s too early to tell how the incident will affect future shows. “It’s an unfortunate accident that’s still being investigated,” Desmond said. “We’ll have to see if any lessons can be learned and make sure we’re as safe as we possibly can be. There’s been no decision made to cancel them.” For the Silva family, Sunday’s incident was a wake-up call. “It could have hit us just as easily,” Joe Silva said. “We’re going to rethink it next year. For sure, we won’t be that close.”