FIERY SINGLE-CAR CRASH IN OCEANSIDE KILLS DRIVER

Oceanside police are investigating a fiery and fatal solo-vehicle crash that occurred on Christmas Eve.

The accident happened around 11:25 p.m. Friday, when the Oceanside Police Department responded to calls of a single-vehicle crash in the intersection of Vista Way and Italia Way, said Sgt. Rick Davis.

Davis said a 2015 yellow Ford passenger vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed east on Vista Way and crashed into a traffic signal pole at the intersection with Italia Way.

The vehicle caught fire immediately, a witness said.

“The Oceanside Fire Department arrived and, upon extinguishing the fire, they located a single occupant who they pronounced dead,” Davis said.

The name and gender of the victim were not immediately released.

City News Service

16-year-old suspected of 8 robberies arrested

El Cajon police arrested a 16-year-old boy Thursday on suspicion that he committed a string of eight robberies in the area that started in late September.

In a statement released Friday afternoon, the El Cajon Police Department said that a uniformed officer recognized the youth who was walking on Arnele Avenue between Jackman Street and North Johnson Avenue about 12:50 p.m. “wearing clothing similar to that which he wore during several of the robberies.”

Those incidents, according to the police, occurred on a range of dates from Sept. 29 through Dec. 8 at a variety of locations including local convenience stores, gas stations and a motel. Each robbery, the police said, involved the subject brandishing or pretending to brandish a handgun before demanding cash and cigarettes.

The police did not list the times, dates or locations of each robbery or of an unsuccessful ninth incident.

Thursday afternoon, the teenager ran away after seeing the officer, according to police, entering a drainage canal north of nearby Interstate 8.

Police searched the area with the aid of a Sheriff ’s Department helicopter and canine unit, discovering a heat signature under a bush in the backyard of a North Pierce Street home.

After making the arrest, officers executed a search warrant at the boy’s alleged residence on East Madison Avenue near Ann Street. The warrant, according to the Police Department’s statement, turned up “additional clothing the suspect wore during at least one of the robberies.”

Police booked the suspect at the Kearny Mesa Juvenile Detention Facility on eight counts of robbery and one count of attempted robbery.