Bike rider dies after collision with SUV in Escondido

A rider on a dirt bike was killed Thursday after he sped down an Escondido sidewalk and into an intersection where he collided with an SUV, police said.

The incident happened about 12:30 p.m. on Bear Valley Parkway at Hayden Drive, just south of Valley Parkway, Escondido police Lt. Scott Walters said in a news release.

According to police, the motorcyclist was riding a 2006 Yamaha YZ450F — a dirt bike designed for offroad use that’s not street legal — and was speeding north on the sidewalk along Bear Valley Parkway when he ran a red light at Hayden Drive.

The rider pulled into the street at the same time a 30-year-old Escondido woman was turning left in a 2018 Lexus

NX300 from Hayden Drive onto Bear Valley Parkway, Walters said.

The rider slammed into the SUV. Paramedics took the man to Palomar Medical Center, where he died.

The crash did not injure the SUV’s driver.

Traffic division Officer Pete McCollough is leading the crash investigation, and anyone who may have witnessed the collision or who has additional information about it was asked to call McCollough at (760) 839-4930.

Truck crashes in rainy weather, spills 80 to 100 gallons of fuel SOUTH COUNTY

A semi-truck lost control Friday in rainy weather and hit a wall on the shoulder of Bonita Road, spilling some of its diesel fuel load onto the road.

The accident occurred about 7:50 a.m. and involved a big rig headed south on Interstate 805 just south of Bonita Road, said California Highway Patrol spokesman Salvador Castro.

The driver, a 41-year-old man from Mexico, lost control of the truck in the rainy conditions, which caused the vehicle to jackknife and crash into the right shoulder wall, Castro said. The impact caused the fuel tank to rupture and spill about 80 to 100 gallons of diesel fuel onto the roadway and surrounding area.

Castro said the driver was uninjured.