San Diego Car Accident Lawyer Blog

A big rig truck wreck and car accident were involved in a large, fatal traffic accident in Orange County that closed both sides of State Route 57 in Fullerton last week.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the auto accident happened around 7 p.m. at the Chapman Avenue exit. The driver of the truck was presumed to be killed within the fiery wreck. There was also footage of firefighters tearing into the cargo compartment of the overturned truck to rid the flames.

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A woman who died last week when her pickup truck collided with the back of a parked truck and burned in Clairemont Mesa was recently identified by authorities.

Melissa Ann Porter of Santee, had died at the scene of the crash, in the 5400 block of Clairemont Mesa Boulevard in San Diego. The Medical Examiner's Office reported the incident to the press on Saturday.

Porter had been driving alone and was taking at exit at Clairemont Mesa Boulevard off of southbound Interstate 805 at 4:45 a.m. on July 24, 2009, when her pickup veered across all the lanes and slammed the back of a commercial truck parked near the freeway offramp, catching fire. A local passerby removed Porter from the burning vehicle, according to the Medical Examiner's report. Severe blunt forces were identified as the cause of death, said San Diego Police Sgt. Max Verdusco. The pickup had appeared to be traveling around 60 mph when the accident happened, believing that speed may have been a factor in the crash. The offramp had to be closed for nearly five hours following the accident for cleanup. You can read more about this San Diego car accident in this SanDiego6.com story.

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

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In Los Angeles, the California Highway Patrol is naming a Southern California man a hero after he rescued a 3-year-old girl from a burning vehicle on a Los Angeles freeway.

John McDonald of West Covina had been driving on Interstate 10 in El Monte on Wednesday, July 22, 2009, and saw an overturned sports utility vehicle engulfed in flames. There had been video footage of the man running to help while 3 people who escaped from the SUV ran away. The CHP mentioned that the driver of the SUV shouted that her granddaughter was still inside, and McDonald braved the car to rescue the girl. Both victim and rescuer had to be treated for minor injuries, including burns.

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On July 19, 2009, a woman was airlifted to a nearby hospital suffering moderate injuries when the car that she had been driving plunged 200 feet into a ravine near eastbound Interstate 8, west of Pine Valley in San Diego County.

It is still unknown why the sedan the woman had been driving had veered off the San Diego Interstate highway, around 4:30 p.m., happening near the Pine Valley bridge, according to a Cal Fire spokesman. An off-duty firefighter had been passing by and was able to help the woman, who had been trapped in her car from the results of the fall. She was also aided by rescuers from Alpine, Viejas, the U.S. Forest Service and the California Highway Patrol, who responded and worked to free her from the damaged motor vehicle, which had landed upside down. You can read more about this San Diego rollover car accident in this SignOnSanDiego.com story.

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

Washington State Patrol reported that actor and Washington state native James Caviezel suffered injuries when an unidentified man threw a bicycle into the path of the motorcycle Caviezel was riding, about 14 miles southeast of Leavenworth, WA.

Caviezel, who was born in Mount Vernon, WA, is most known for his role as Jesus Christ of Nazareth in Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" feature film released in 2004. His motorcycle accident happened last Thursday, July 16 in the afternoon. State Trooper Rich Magnussen reported that the actor was taken to Cascade Medical Center in north-central Washington city for treatment of cuts and bruises from the motorcycle accident. Magnussen mentioned that the 40-year-old Caviezel was wearing a helmet and that without it, the accident "could have been a lot worse".

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Just before festivities of San Diego's Pride Weekend began on July 17, 2009, a two-vehicle car accident in Hillcrest, the hub of San Diego's LGBT community, left a 10-year-old child with serious head injuries in the wake.

San Diego police reported that the auto accident occurred around noon on Friday, July 17 when a southbound motorist made an illegal U-turn in the 4000 block of Sixth Avenue, crossing into the path of an oncoming vehicle. The child had been riding in the southbound car. Paramedics who arrived on the scene took the child to the hospital for treatment of a skull fracture, while no other injuries had been reported. You can read more about this San Diego auto accident in this SanDiego6.com story.

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A fatal Riverside car crash left a 3-month-old boy from the town dead, due to injuries he had sustained in the auto accident. The car in which he was riding had apparently slammed into a power pole, San Bernardino County coroner's officials reported.

Ziad Abdel-Hadi was one of the five people riding in the white Nissan sedan when it crashed into the pole around 6:30 p.m. on July 18, 2009, near Mission Boulevard and Pyrite Street in the Pedley area of Riverside. The utility pole was down and ultimately knocked out power to about 250 Southern California customers. It also consequently sparked a blaze in a field nearby.

Continue reading " Infant Dies in Riverside Area Car Accident " »

A San Diego car accident on July 15, 2009, hospitalized a 55-year-old woman with two broken vertebrae and a fractured hip. San Diego Police said that the auto wreck included two cars in the Roseville area of San Diego.

The woman who was hospitalized had been driving a Volkswagen on Scott Street northbound when she tried to turn onto westbound Nimitz Boulevard around 4 p.m. on Tuesday, and was struck by another motor vehicle headed eastbound on Nimitz.

The injured woman was taken immediately to Scripps Mercy Hospital after emergency crews were able to free her from her vehicle, which had serious damage and made it difficult to get inside. There were no other injuries reported. You can read more about this San Diego auto accident in this 10News.com story.

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

San Diego authorities reported on July 15 that two people were injured in Otay Mesa near Brown Field on Tuesday morning in a rollover auto crash that they believe may have been the result of drunk driving.

The car accident occured just before 6 a.m. on Otay Mesa Road just by Britannia Boulevard, according to the California Highway Patrol. Paramedics arrived on the scene and took two people to the hospital with injuries, according to a San Diego Fire-Rescue dispatcher. It was not made known just yet the extent of their injuries. Police are still investigating whether or not the driver was drunk at the time of the accident. You can read more about this San Diego drunk driving auto accident in this SanDiego6.com story.

Continue reading " San Diego Rollover Car Crash Likely Caused by Alcohol " »

A 68-year-old woman riding in a crosswalk in her motorized wheelchair was hospitalized on July 9, 2009, after being struck by a car in San Diego's Mission Valley area. She was attempting to cross an intersection at the time.

The woman had been crossing at the 200 block of Camino de la Reina around 6:30 p.m. when a 25-year-old man driving northbound in a Ford Mustang on Hotel Circle South came up to Camino de la Reina, according to Officer Brad Ruff of the San Diego Police Department. The man had been looking for freeways signs and did not see the woman when he turned onto Camino de la Reina. The man was going slow when he collided with the woman, but struck her hard enough to break her femur. You can read more about this San Diego pedestrian run over by car accident in this 10News.com story.

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A man was sentenced to life in prison by a Florida jury when he stood trial after admitting to smoking crack cocaine before a hit and run auto accident that killed a San Diego boy. The fate was decided within 24 minutes.

Zachary Foster was 3 when he was killed last year in Florida. Zachary's mother Amy, talked to reporters outside the courthouse , saying "Our hearts are broken forever. He'll never know what he took from us. I'm glad justice was served."

Continue reading " DUI Driver Sentenced for Fatal Hit and Run Accident That Killed Young San Diego Boy " »

One of San Diego County's main and most congested freeways, Interstate 15, had a six vehicle crash on July 8, 2009, leaving two lanes of traffic blocked for about an hour, just near the Rancho Penasquitos neighborhood.

None of the drivers or passengers involved in the large car wreck reported having any injuries. It occurred on the southbound lanes of I-15 just south of Rancho Penasquitos Boulevard around 8:01 a.m., California Highway Patrol indicated.

An ambulance was called to the scene due to the size and nature on the incident, but no one needed to be taken to the hospital, and it remained a precautionary measure, according to a San Diego Fire-Rescue dispatcher.

A SigAlert was kept in effect until 9:09 a.m. that day. You can read more about this multiple vehicle San Diego car accident in this 10News.com story.

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A crash in the Paradise Hills neighborhood of San Diego on the night of July 7 left the driver injured after he had crashed into two cars in the area. A dispatcher of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department reported that the motor vehicle wreck, which took place around 8:40 p.m., happened on the 5800 block of Albemarle St. Witnesses to the car accident also reported that the woman who was driving the Ford Explorer SUV that crashed, had suffered an unknown medical problem before she lost control of the car. With two children in the car, the woman driving was the only one injured.

There were some bystanders who were outside at the time of the crash that were not injured by the San Diego car wreck, although they are now currently displaced. San Diego city housing inspectors reported that the damage to one house was substantial and made it uninhabitable, while the other house suffered only damage to a car and the subsequent garage. The San Diego Red Cross is arranging shelter for the family. If you would like to read more about this San Diego auto accident please read this 10News.com story.

Continue reading " Car Crashes into 2 San Diego Homes, Injures Driver " »

A serious July 6 San Diego car wreck left two passengers seriously injured and in the hospital. Reportedly, a vehicle that had been traveling along San Diego County's State Route 56 overturned, and then was struck by another vehicle. The crash occurred on the westbound side of the freeway, west of the Carmel Valley Road exit, in the early morning hours just before 2 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.

The two who were injured did not yet have names released as of Tuesday afternoon, but they were taken by officials who arrived on the scene to Scripps Memorial Hospital via ambulance. Though this information was given by a member of the San Diego fire-rescue dispatch team, both they and the CHP classified the injuries suffered by the victims as "major". You can read more about this San Diego rollover auto accident in this SanDiego6.com story.

Continue reading " San Diego Rollover Car Accident Critically Injures Two People " »

Police were on a wild car chase throughout San Diego following a suspected drunk driver early on the morning of July 6, 2009, ending when the driver ran over a spike strip and crashed into the office of Congressman Bob Filner.

The driver's name was still being withheld as of Monday afternoon, but he was known to be taken to UCSD Hospital and is expected to survive, according to Chula Vista Police Lt. Vern Solis. The chase had begun around 1:30 a.m. when an officer attemped to pull over the silver pickup truck which had been heading west on state Route 54 near Woodman Drive for speeding and failing to use turn signals. The driver had refused to pull over and simply continued on State Route 54, speeding around 110 mph before exiting onto southbound Interstate 805. Another officer went ahead to lay down a spike strip at F Street and Third Avenue in Chula Vista, and the driver came to a stop just before hitting it. When he stopped, the officer pointed his gun at the driver and ordered him out of the vehicle. The driver, refusing to be complient, then hit the accelerator, driving over the spike strip and continuing through the intersection. You can read more about this high-speed San Diego car chase and crash in this SanDiegoNewsNetwork.com story.

Continue reading " San Diego Car Chase Ends with Crash Into Congressman Bob Filner's Office " »

Jesus Fernandez Alonzo, 26, was the allegedly drunk man behind the wheel who caused a rollover car crash in Vista, killing a passenger. At an earlier hearing, Alonzo pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated in San Diego County's Vista Courthouse, and was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Aaron Katz on Thursday to four years in state prison.

The sentencing comes from the April 17 incident when San Diego Sheriff's Officers reported that Alonzo was eastbound on West Vista Way near Santa Clara Drive about 11:30 p.m. when he crashed his Toyota 4-Runner. His passenger was 45-year-old Lorenzo Gabriel Lopez Gonzalez of Oceanside, who was thrown from the SUV and died before he could be airlifted to a hospital. To read more about this San Diego fatal DUI car accident, read this SanDiego6.com story.

Continue reading " Drunk Driver Arrested After Fatal San Diego Car Accident " »

A celebrity fashion designer crashed her car through the front window of a hardware store in San Diego last week, damaging the store and injuring a customer inside. Zandra Rhodes, who has designed for such celebrities as Princess Diana, confirmed that she was the driver involved in the San Diego car crash Tuesday but didn't want to discuss the cause of the accident.

Maurice Luque, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire Department reported that a 42-year-old woman in the Meanley & Son Ace Hardware store was hit when Rhodes's car smashed into the store, hitting a table that slammed into her. She was taken to the hospital but did not suffer any life-threatening injuries. Rhodes reported to the San Diego Union-Tribune that she wasn't hurt, and it was not known if any charge would be filed.

Continue reading " Car Crashes Into Store During San Diego Auto Accident " »

A high speed car chase on June 30, 2009, was led by a 35-year-old man in El Cajon, ending when the stolen car that he was driving crashed through a fence and into a vintage airplane inside a hangar at Gillespie Field. The chase had started around 1 a.m. when El Cajon police pulled over Patrick Michael Ray for driving well in excess of the speed limit, according to El Cajon Police Sgt. Pete Faubel.

Once the police officer had gotten out of his car to approach the vehicle, Ray sped off, driving north at more than 100 mph on Johnson Street near Bradley Avenue. He lost control while making a righthand turn, the vehicle went across a ravine and onto the tarmac at Gillespie Field, and then crashed into a vintage airplane. The impact was so strong it broke one of the airplane wings and damaged an antique car stored there. You can read more about this San Diego high-speed car chase accident in this SanDiegoNewsNetwork.com story.

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San Diego County is among the many counties in California that see drivers continue to ignore the hands-free cell phone law. California made it illegal to talk on a handheld phone device while driving last year on July 1, 2008, but drivers cannot seem to comply. The amount of car drivers being cited seems to grow more and more each month, especially in San Diego, despite the amount of authorities on the lookout for it.

Many motor vehicle owners adapted to the law by getting earpieces such as Bluetooth-enabled headsets to connect to their phones, yet California Highway Patrol wrote 12,596 tickets statewide last month for cell phone and texting-while-driving violations, a record since the laws have been effective. San Diego itself grabbed a record in May with 994 violations, as opposed to 300 last August when the city start fully enforcing the law. For more information about San Diego cell phone while driving violators, you may want to read this SignOnSanDiego.com story.

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