San Diego Car Accident Lawyer Blog

An elderly couple, which included a 77-year-old man and a 79-year-old woman, were injured on June 25, 2009, when their car veered off of a South Bay street and struck six parked vehicles before crashing to a stop against a private residence in Chula Vista, in south San Diego County. The accident happened around 12:45 p.m., when the man, who had been driving, lost control of the vehicle while he was exiting a parking lot, located in the 200 block of Fourth Avenue in Chula Vista, according to police reports.

The car being driven by the couple actually struck several automobiles parked on the east side of Glover Avenue before veering around 180 degrees and re-entering the lot, where it again crashed into another vehicle, and then ricocheted into yet another one. The vehicle out of control continued on to strike a wooden fence just before crashing into a house. Medics that arrived on the scene took the driver to the UCSD Medical Center for treatment of a broken arm. The passenger was taken to the same San Diego hospital for evaluation of chest paints. As of the late afternoon, investigations of the cause of the accident were still underway. You can read more about this Chula Vista car accident in this 10news.com story.

Continue reading " Chula Vista Car Accident Injures Elderly Couple " »

Travis Chris Weber, 44, is an unemployed drifter with a longstanding history of drunk driving convictions who pleaded guilty on May 26 to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and admitted an allegation of hit-and-run causing death in San Diego County. On Thursday, June 25th, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for an alcohol-related hit-and-run car crash in Alpine that killed a bicyclist.

The collision occurred around 5p.m. in the bicycle lane on eastbound Alpine Boulevard last December 2, killing Edward Costa, a 30-year-old self-employed construction worker and father of two. Two days after the fatal hit-and-run accident, Weber was taken into custody.

The California Highway Patrol Office Michael Edwards testified during a January 21 preliminary hearing that having searched the silver Ford F-150 belonging to the defendant at the scene, he found three empty half-pint bottles of vodka in the cab, along with seven empty beer cans in the bed in the vehicle. Edwards also reported that he questioned Weber on the night of his arrest, when Weber told him he had been on a drinking binge for five days and woke up in Campo, hours after the collision, and had no idea how he had gotten there, according to the officer. Just after his arrest, Weber was documented as having a blood-alcohol level of .19 percent, more than twice the .08 legal limit. You can read more about this fatal San Diego hit-and-run car accident in this San Diego News Network story.

Continue reading " Man Sentenced to 11 Years for San Diego Hit-and-Run Car Accident " »

The morning of June 23, 2009, in San Diego was brought in with a massive car wreck on State Route 163 that involved five vehicles on the freeway, including a school bus. The crash occurred near Mesa College and the highway was cleared a few hours later.

The San Diego five-car accident happened on the northbound side of the 163 freeway at Mesa College Drive just before 8 a.m., as reported by the California Highway Patrol. The road was narrowed down to two highway lanes, as well as the Mesa College Drive offramp for about an hour. The SigAlert was lifted at about 9:01 a.m. One of the five vehicles involved flipped onto its side. Paramedics who had arrived on the scene took had to take one motorist to Sharp Memorial Hospital due to injuries from the traffic accident. The victim's condition is still currently unknown. You can read more about this San Diego car crash in this sdnn.com story.

If you or anyone you know has been injured or killed in a San Diego car accident, please contact San Diego car crash attorney Ross Jurewitz and the San Diego personal injury lawyers at the Jurewitz Law Group at (619) 233-5020. You may also contact a San Diego injury attorney online here.

A police chase happened in the Clairemont area of San Diego last Thursday when a driver refused to yield to a California Highway Patrol officer along State Route 52. The driver ended up crashing his car after refusing to pull over, and then attempted to escape by running away on foot. He was caught by CHP officers in the end.

The unidentified driver had been speeding when he lost control of the car before it spun out of control and crashed just west of Interstate 805, a high-profile freeway going through San Diego county and city. After the car wreck, the driver jumped and ran away. But he did not get far before he was caught and taken into custody, according to CHP public affairs Officer Larry Landeros. It is still not certain why the driver was being signaled to pull over in the first place, but there is no question that his actions following were dangerous and illegal. You can read more about this San Diego car wreck in this SanDiego6.com story.

Continue reading " Foot Pursuit Follows San Diego Car Chase and Crash " »

The well-publicized death of Alexandria Drake (we've written about her story in San Diego Car Accident on SR-67, Mother Killed in Ramona Street Racing Accident, and Alexandria Drake's SR67 Car Crash) has taken a new step now that one of the drivers will be charged with manslaughter. Alexandria Drake was a 25 year old mother who died when, according to witnesses, one car of two that were street racing on the State Route 67 in San Diego slammed into her car, killing her with her infant child in the back seat. The second car, identified as a white BMW, sped off and has not been found.

After a few months of suspense and legalities as the case was being sifted through, the driver of the car that hit Drake's, Melvin Pearless, will be charged with manslaughter and should appear in court on Thursday. If convicted, he faces up to six years in prison. Authorities are still seeking to find the driver of the white BMW that had been racing with Pearless. You can read more about this San Diego County car accident in this 10news.com story.http://www.jurewitz.com

Continue reading " Street Racing Driver Who Caused Fatal SR-67 Accident to be Charged with Manslaughter " »

San Diego saw another DUI car accident on June 14, 2009, when a motorist fled on foot after the two-car crash in South Bay and was arrested for driving drunk. The crash occurred on Jamacha Boulevard, just west of Sweetwater Road shortly after 10:30 p.m. according to the California Highway Patrol.

Witnesses to the accident helped police find the suspect, who fled the scene, and were able to put him behind bars. His name had not been released as of yesterday afternoon. You can read more about this car accident in San Diego in this 10news.com story.

Continue reading " DUI Driver Responsible for San Diego Car Accident Arrested " »

A June 14, 2009, traffic collision on Interstate 215 killed a motorcyclist and even injured his passenger. Though the I-215 does not surface until Riverside County, it is a connection to the highly frequented San Diego County Interstate 15 freeway, and a well-traveled shortcut for many San Diego residents on their way to Las Vegas, or other desert locations, as it splits off of the I-15 and meets with it again north of San Bernardino some dozens of miles further north.

The suspect driving the car is 28-year-old Daniel Palmer of Rim Forest, who is now behind bars at Central Detention Center in San Bernardino on suspicion of murder, as well as drunk driving. Palmer had been driving a 1999 Ford pickup truck when that struck James Hayward Julian IV from behind on soutbound I-215, just south of Second Street in San Bernardino, resulting in the fatal motorcycle accident. You can read more about this San Bernardino motorcycle accident in this hayabusa.org story.

Continue reading " Deadly San Bernardino Motorcycle Accident on I-215 " »

A pregnant woman who lost control of her car and crashed in San Diego County was rescued on June 15, 2009. The La Jolla car wreck happened around 4 p.m. while the woman was driving south on Alta La Jolla Drive and Soledad Road.

Police say that the woman lost control of her car for as-of-yet unknown reasons, and her car went down a canyon and hit a tree. The woman, who has not yet been identified, suffered minor cuts and scratches, and was pulled to safety to be taken to a hospital as a precaution. She is 31 years old and three months pregnant. She and the baby are both reported to be in good condition following the car crash. You can read more about this car accident in San Diego in this SanDiego6.com story.

Continue reading " Pregnant Woman Rescued after San Diego Car Accident " »

A multi-vehicle rollover crash that occurred last week on State Route 78 is being blamed on a San Diego hit-and-run driver. The accident ended up involved a big rig truck, a transit bus, and many other vehicles in Oceanside, leaving several people injured.

However, the damage did not stop there. Some power lines were damaged in the crash, their sparking led to a small brush fire off the road, and power was disabled to about 1,800 homes as a result. The site of the initial collision was State Route 78 eastbound just before Jefferson Street. You can read more about this Oceanside hit-and-run car accident in this SanDiego6.com story.

Continue reading " Oceanside Hit-and-Run Rollover Car Wreck " »

In East San Diego County's Live Oak Springs, a 59-year-old woman from Ramona was killed in a traffic accident.

The East County resident was identified Wednesday as Sharon Marice Clanton. She had been delivering meals in rural East County and was found dead around 2:30 p.m. on June 9, 2009. Clanton was wedged between her vehicle and a fence post on Via Road in Live Oak Springs according to San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office. Details of the accident were not initially made known.

Continue reading " East San Diego County Woman Killed in Live Oak Springs Traffic Accident " »

Despite being attributed solely to the coast and beach-side towns, California's Inland Empire got a dose of June gloom with fog thick enough to cause a massive car accident resulting in a 30-car pileup, and injuring 15 in its wake. Luckily there were no fatalities reported.

Both cars and trucks stacked up against each other in the heavy fog on the Interstate 15 near the summit of Cajon Pass just north of Rancho Cucamonga in the early hours Wednesday morning. All the car collisions took place in the northbound lanes, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Daniel Hesser, who was at the scene in the pass at the western end of the San Bernardino Mountains.

Paramedics arrived at the scene and took 10 people to local hospitals, and five others interviewed declined treatment of their own accord. You can read more about this Inland Empire car accident in this SignOnSanDiego.com story.

Continue reading " June Gloom Injures 15 in Southern California Car Accident " »

The San Diego Miramar area saw a longstanding accident on Interstate 15 that involved an overturned truck and flatbed trailer on the San Diego County freeway. The June 8, 2009, accident happened very near the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and created a traffic jam lasting for hours. The trucking accident happened around 9 a.m. when the northbound big rig struck an overpass and the truck then fell over on the driver's side. The truck had been hauling a large cylindrical water tank and spilled approximately 10 gallons of diesel fuel along the 15, according to CHP public affairs Officer Brad Baehr.

Emergency crews arrived on the scene to free the trucker, later identified as 52-year-old Matt Ream of Valley Center. Ream suffered minor scrapes and abrasions and did not need to be admitted to the hospital. Hazardous materials teams were called in to clean up the spilled fuel, and Caltrans engineers were also requested to inspect the overcrossing, where they deemed it structurally sound. You can read more about this San Diego truck accident in this 10news.com story.

Continue reading " San Diego Truck Accident Traps Driver " »

Shannon Maureen Mahoney, 22, of Vista had been riding in a truck along State Route 78 on the evening of June 6, 2009, when she was ejected from her pickup truck as the result of a violent crash. She died at the scene.

The fatal San Diego County area car accident happened around 10:22 p.m. near the El Camino Real exit from eastbound State Route 78. The driver of the truck was identified as Charles Lemay, 27, of Oceanside, driving a 2007 Ford Ranger pickup. Apparently the pickup swerved to the right suddenly, went off the freeway and subsequently overturned multiple times. Mahoney had not been wearing a seat belt, and was ejected from the truck. CHP reported that Lemay suffered moderate injuries.You can read more about this San Diego car accident in this SignOnSanDiego.com story.

Continue reading " Oceanside Man Arrested After Oceanside Rollover Car Accident Kills Young Woman " »

A negligent driver driving on the wrong side of the road on June 4 in San Diego lead officers on a high-speed chase both on and off of freeways. The car chase ended in a crash with a patrol car and the driver's arrest. The officer driving the patrol car was injured as a result.

The reckless dark SUV had been driving south in the northbound lanes of Interstate 805 from State Route 54 at 5:49 a.m., and was being driven by a 47-year-old woman. She eventually came up to Palm Avenue, where she made a u-turn and headed north in the right direction this time, but driving furiously at speeds of up to 100 mph. She continued her chase off 43rd St, running many red lights in Lincoln Park, and taking her vehicle onto 47th Street, and then onto Imperial Avenue, speeding toward a CHP vehicle positioned just south of the upcoming intersection.

Continue reading " Wrong-Way Driver Causes San Diego Car Crash " »

After having crashed his truck close to Valley Center Road, a North County man who had been driving was pinned for hours inside his vehicle before he was spotted and rescued. The interesting twist was that by the time California Highway Patrol arrived to assist the man, they had found two open containers of vodka in the truck. However, it had been too long to determine whether or not to driver was drunk at the time of the crash or not.

The driver, who was indentified as Denis Gerdes, 49, of Vista, was in a Toyota Tundra on Saturday evening when he crashed, and spent the night pinned inside. The accident was not spotted until Sunday afternoon by a passerby. Verdes was apparently a little disoriented but overall uninjured by the time he was removed around 12:40 p.m. Sunday just below Valley Center Road. The story had been reported to Sgt Lewis Hall of the CHP to the North County Times. Gerdes had apparently called 911 on his own, but gave the wrong location. You can read more about this North San Diego County truck accident in this NBC San Diego story.

Continue reading " Vista Man Freed After North San Diego County Truck Accident " »

Interstate 805 was the scene of a chaotic series of events on June 1, 2009, that ultimately injured five people in San Diego, three of them very seriously, according to authorities.

The main source of the San Diego car accident with injury was when a Ford Expedition overturned on the busy I-805 which occurred about noon near Interstate 8. It also involved two other vehicles. As of Tuesday, it was still undetermined the exact cause of the accident, or how the Expedition had overturned.

The incident seriously injured three children, aged 5, 6 and 9, all of whom were passengers in the Expedition, although San Diego fire department Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Maurice Luque reports that all were expected to survive. Two adults in the Expedition suffered moderate injuries from the crash. You can read more about this San Diego car accident in this SignOnSanDiego.com story.

Continue reading " San Diego Car Accident Injures Three Children Two Adults " »

A three-vehicle crash on Mission Avenue at Douglas Drive in Oceanside on May 29, 2009, left a 15-year-old boy in critical but stable condition according to an Oceanside traffic sergeant on Sunday.

Sgt. Kenneth Gow reports that the official cause of this San Diego area car crash had not yet been determined, although is appears that the traffic signal at the intersection of the car wreck was out at the time, shortly after 10 p.m., as there was a collision early that same evening. The San Diego Gas & Electric Company crew had been working to fix the light just before the second crash occurred, which involved a Hyundai Tiberon, a Chevrolet Silverado pickup and a GMC Yukon. The Silverado was carrying the 15-year-old and an 18-year-old, both males. Only the 15-year-old sustained serious injuries, which he is still currently battling through.

Four ambulances had arrived on the scene and taken two people to the trauma center at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, one person to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, and another to Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside. You can read more about this Oceanside car accident in this North County Times story.

Continue reading " Oceanside Car Accident Leaves Teen in Critical Condition " »

In the early hours of June 1, 2009, an unidentified 32-year-old man from Chula Vista died when he drove on the wrong side of the road and crashed head-on into a pickup truck in this fatal San Diego County car accident.

The scene of the auto accident was at Lake Jennings Park Road, over a hill near Jack Oak Road, around 5 a.m. The man was driving a 2003 Dodge Dakota on the wrong side of the street, and collided with a 51-year-old man from Utah who had been d riving a 2004 Dodge truck west on Lake Jennings Park. The Utah man had been driving an estimated 45 to 50 mph and swerved to the left and braked when he saw the oncoming 2003 Dodge Dakota, but could not prevent the deadly collision, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Brian Pennings. You can read more about this San Diego car accident in this SignOnSanDiego.com story.

Continue reading " Chula Vista Man Dead After Head-On San Diego Car Accident " »

A rollover San Marcos car accident on Highway 78 in San Diego County left a 20-year-old man from San Marcos brain dead. Though the incident occurred on the morning of May 25, 2009, the man had just recently been identified.

Rafael Rivera Jr. had been the only present in the Honda CRX which rolled over around 10:50 a.m. on Monday morning in this near fatal San Diego car accident. Rivera had been traveling at an unsafe high speed on eastbound Highway 78 to make it roll, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office. Rivera had been trapped in the car and was freed from the wreckage by firefighters, though with serious head injuries. Paramedics that arrived on the scene took Rivera to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, where he was pronounced brain dead at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. You can read more about this San Marcos auto accident in this SanDiego6.com story.

Continue reading " Fatal San Marcos Car Accident Victim Identified " »