Woman walking with husband struck, killed by hit-and-run driver in N. County Navy, Coast Guard search for sailor overboard off carrier 21 smuggling suspects on boat off Del Mar arrested
NORTH COUNTY
A woman walking along a roadside with her husband was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver Thursday evening southeast of Fallbrook, authorities said.
It happened about 5 p.m. on Gird Road near Laketree Drive, according to North County Fire Protection District Capt. John Choi and California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Latulippe.
As the couple was walking on the right shoulder of the road, a northbound pickup approached from behind, veered off the road onto the shoulder and struck the woman, Latulippe said.
The pickup’s driver stopped momentarily, then drove away, according to Latulippe.
The truck was described as a dark, older model pickup that will likely have damage to the right front side.
The victim, a 60-year-old Fallbrook resident, died at the scene, authorities said. Her husband, also 60, was not injured.
Highway Patrol officers were investigating the crash, Latulippe said.
On Thursday night, the CHP released a short clip of a surveillance video showing what investigators believe was likely the involved truck.
Choi said that as of 6:30 p.m., both directions of Gird Road remained closed for the investigation.
Latulippe urged anyone with information about the deadly collision, the pickup or its driver to call CHP at (858) 637-3800.
PAC I F I C O C E A N
Three days after the carrier Theodore Roosevelt set sail from San Diego, a sailor apparently went overboard Thursday morning in waters off the coast of Southern California, Navy officials said.
Crews aboard the San Diegobased aircraft carrier began search-and-rescue efforts Thursday morning after a lookout spotted what appeared to be a person in the water, according to a news release from the U.S. 3rd Fleet. The initial search involved three helicopters and a small inf latable watercraft.
During a ship-wide head count, the carrier crew learned one sailor was unaccounted for, according to Navy officials.
Cmdr. Sean Robertson, a spokesman for the San Diegobased U.S. 3rd Fleet, said a public announcement of the incident was delayed until the Navy could notify the sailor’s family.
By Thursday night, the searchand-rescue efforts included the Coast Guard, Navy aircraft and the Navy ships Bunker Hill, Russell, Howard and Charleston.
The Roosevelt left San Diego on Monday for a scheduled deployment just five months after returning in July following an ill-fated deployment that saw a quarter of its crew infected with the novel coronavirus.
A Navy official declined to comment on where the Roosevelt will go or how long its deployment might be, though West Coast carriers commonly deploy to the western Pacific, Indian Ocean or the Persian Gulf.
Staff writer Andrew Dyer contributed to this report. alex.riggins@sduniontribune.com
DEL MAR
Twenty-one people, including five suspected smugglers, were arrested after Border Patrol agents spotted most of them in a boat in the ocean near Del Mar early Friday morning.
The agents saw the panga-style boat about 3 a.m. near the city’s Dog Beach and — anticipating the boat’s likely landing site — headed to Camino Del Mar, at the north end of Dog Beach, Agent Justin Castrejon said in a news release.
There, they saw 16 people in life jackets running toward three waiting vehicles. Two of the vehicles raced off, but a 2003 Mazda minivan stopped for agents, Castrejon said.
Inside the minivan, agents found a 68-year-old U.S. citizen at the wheel, Castrejon said.
He had eight passengers, all of whom were Mexicans believed to be in the country without permission.
Other agents tailed the two cars that got away, staying on them until they stopped at a hotel in Carlsbad. They arrested the drivers — each was a U.S. citizen — as well as their eight passengers, all of whom were Mexicans also suspected to be in the country without permission.
As agents on land focused on the cars, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted the panga as it headed south toward Mexico. Two Mexican men onboard were arrested.
The three drivers and the two boat operators face possible charges of human smuggling. One of the boat passengers may be charged with re-entering the U.S. after having been removed before, Castrejon said.
The other 15 boat passengers were expected to be returned to Mexico.
teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com