NOVEMBER 30, 2008 – The California Highway Patrol reported yesterday a man and a woman were very seriously injured in a collision on Highway 76 between a motorcycle and a pickup near the La Jolla Indian Reservation. The accident happened east of South Grade Road around 12:25 p.m. The cause of the accident is being investigated. One injured party was flown to Palomar Medical Center, and another was transported by ambulance.
NOVEMBER 29, 2008 – Two people were killed and six others were injured in an accident in Balboa Park early Saturday morning. The accident happened shortly after midnight near the Balboa Park Golf Course. A small, two door car, carrying eight people, was speeding along Florida Drive in Balboa Park. The car struck the center island, went over the curb, and rolled several times. Several children were in the car, including a 3-year-old child, according to police. Two people, including the driver, were pronounced dead at the scene of the Balboa Park rollover accident. The victim’s identities have not been released. The condition of the passengers’ injuries are not known.
NOVEMBER 28, 2008 – The family of a Kentucky girl has reached a settlement with Six Flags Kentucy Kingdom after an amusement park accident a year and a half ago. Kaitlyn Lasitter suffered catastrophic injuries when both of her feet were severed in an amusement park accident on June 21, 2007. At the time, Lasitter was 13 years old. The accident happened when a cable snapped and severed Lasitter’s feet on the Superman Tower of Power ride.
Monique and Randy Lasitter, Kaitlyn’s parents, sued Six Flags for negligence, and alleged that their daughter’s injuries would have been much less serious if the operator of the ride had immediately hit the emergency stop button. The teenager lost both feet in the accident. Doctors were able to reattach her left leg, but could not save her right leg. Lasitter has had to undergo four amputation surgeries since the accident.
The amount of the settlement was confidential, but the family’s lawyer said that medical bills totaled nearly $500,000. Kentucky law also allows recovery for pain and suffering and future lost income. Claims are still pending for Lasitter’s two friends who also were injured in the accident. A suit against the manufacturer of the ride, Intamin Ltd., is also still pending.
NOVEMBER 28, 2008 – A man died Friday morning in a single-vehicle accident Friday morning off Lilac Road in Valley Center, authorities have reported. The accident occurred just prior to 8:10 a.m. The driver, who the CHP reported may have had a heart attack, went off the road and struck a tree near Lilac Heights Court. The man was pronounced dead at the scene of the Valley Center accident. Lilac road was closed while authorities investigated the accident. The driver’s identity or age has not been released.
NOVEMBER 28, 2008 – State Route 78 was closed for more than an hour in both directions Thanksgiving night while the California Highway Patrol investigated a serious crash. A red Ford Taurus collided with a tree on Route 78 near Newman way, between Julian and Santa Ysabel. The time of the accident was approximately 8:30 p.m. Firefigthers had to extricate the driver from the vehicle. The crash happened during a time when heavy fog was reported in the area. The condition of the driver, whose identity was not released, is unknown. He was taken to a hospital for treatment of his injuries. The CHP is investigating the Route 78 crash.
NOVEMBER 28, 2008 – Jaime Romo Cardona, 38, of Fallbrook, was killed Wednesday morning after a collision with another vehicle in Bonsall, near Via Margarita and Rancho Amigos Road. The Bonsall fatality accident happened at 8:12 a.m., the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office reported. Cardona was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:39 a.m. The cause of the accident and condition of the driver of the other vehicle is not known.
NOVEMBER 28, 2008 – Authorities have reported that Joyce Ellen Barbasiewicz, 65, of Phoenix, was killed in an SUV rollover accident shortly before 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Barbasiewicz was a front-seat passenger in an older Ford Explorer travelling westbound on I-8. The SUV apparently hydroplaned in the rainy weather and rolled over. Barbasiewicz was ejected from the vehicle, and pronounced dead at the scene, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office. The condition of the driver of the SUV is not known.
NOVEMBER 26, 2008 – A homeless man was hospitalized Monday night for injuries he sustained after a car went off the road and landed upside-down on him while he was sleeping. Firefighters rescued the homeless man, who was pinned under the vehicle. He is expected to survive. Police are searching for the driver of the car and two passengers who ran away from the accident on foot. The accident happened Monday, just after 10 p.m. in the East Village area at 17th Street and Commercial Street.
NOVEMBER 26, 2008 — David Ea, 26, of Oceanside, was killed in an accident on Route 76 November 25th when his Chevrolet Cavalier was broadsided by a pickup truck, authorities have reported. The accident occurred at about 6:20 p.m. Paramedics declared Ea dead at the scene about 10 minutes after the Bonsall 76 crash. Witnesses told police the Cavalier drifted onto the right shoulder several times, before the driver apparently overcorrected and swerved into the eastbound lane of Route 76 in Bonsall, near Via Monserate, where he was broadsided by a pickup truck. The driver of the pickup truck, a 26-year-old man from Carlsbad, suffered minor injuries. A passenger in the pickup truck, a 24-year-old man also from Carlsbad, was not hurt. Westbound lanes of Highway 76 were closed while CHP investigated the Bonsall fatality accident.
NOVEMBER 25, 2008 – Sherman Jones, 48, of Las Vegas was killed in a construction accident Monday at the Hoover Dam bypass project. The Federal Highway Administration said that work has been suspended while the accident is investigated. The exact cause of Jones’ death has not been released. Officials at the Hoover Dam bypass project said in a statement that the accident happened while workers were adjusting an alignment cable supporting the bridge’s twin arches.
The Hoover Dam bypass bridge is expected to be completed in 2010. 112 people died during the initial construction of the Hoover Dam, which was completed in 1935. Monday’s fatality accident was the first death in construction of the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge.
