Motorcyclist dies after he crashes into guardrail during chase by S.D. police
SAN DIEGO
A 30-year-old motorcyclist died early Thursday after he crashed into a guardrail while being pursued by San Diego police, authorities said.
The pursuit began when police spotted the rider traveling at a high rate of speed on Orange Avenue near 34th Street around 1:45 a.m. and tried to pull him over — but instead, he sped off, police said.
After traveling a short distance, the rider crashed into a curb on Lincoln Avenue near Wabash Avenue and then hit a guardrail. The man, who was not wearing a helmet, was ejected from his bike and died before he could be taken to a hospital.
His name was not released.
karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com
Chula Vista man, 42, dies after crashing car into tree
EAST COUNTY
A 42-year-old Chula Vista man died after losing control of his car and crashing the vehicle into a tree near Rancho San Diego on Thursday morning, a California Highway Patrol official said.
The crash happened about 9:20 a.m. on Willow Glen Drive near Campbell Lane, in an unincorporated area just south of the Singing Hills Golf Resort.
The man was driving east in a 2020 Dodge Challenger when he failed to navigate a curve and veered off the edge of the road, CHP Officer Matthew Baranowski said. The car then struck a rock and a tree, throwing the man onto the road.
The man died before he could be taken to a hospital, Baranowski said.
david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com
Speeding driver strikes, kills man, woman crossing street
SAN DIEGO
A speeding driver struck and killed a man and a woman who were walking across a street Wednesday evening near the San Diego Bay between Liberty Station and Point Loma, police said.
The incident happened around 6:05 p.m. on North Harbor Drive west of Nimitz Boulevard, according to Harbor Police Department spokesperson Sgt. T.D. De La Peña.
Witnesses told police that the driver, a man in his late 30s or early 40s, was headed west on North Harbor Drive at high speed when he struck the pair, De La Peña said in a news release.
The victims died at the scene, De La Peña said. Their names were not released, but they were described as a man and woman who were both between 55 and 65 years old.
The driver remained at the scene, De La Peña said.
De La Peña said the two were trying to cross from north to south when they were hit. He said he didn’t know if they were in a crosswalk. No arrests have been made and the crash remains under investigation, he said.
Anyone with information about the incident was asked to call the
Harbor police non-emergency line at (619) 686-6272.
alex.riggins@sduniontribune.com
Santa Fe Christian teacher killed in climbing accident
RIVERSIDE COUNTY
A North County high school teacher was found dead this week after an apparent climbing accident in Joshua Tree National Park, according to the National Park Service and school officials.
A Riverside County Coroner’s Office press release identified the victim as 35-year-old San Diego resident Michael Spitz, who was found just before 10 a.m. Monday at the base of the Sentinel Wall near the Hidden Valley Nature Trail.
According to a Facebook post from Santa Fe Christian Schools in Solana Beach, Spitz was employed there as an Upper School Spanish teacher and died in a rock-climbing accident. The coroner’s office did not disclose details regarding the circumstances of Spitz’s death, but stated that he sustained an unspecified injury around 5:30 p.m. Sunday.
According to a statement from the school, Spitz co-founded Vida Outreach — a Baja California-nonprofit — and was described as a “multi-sport adventure athlete, life-long surfer, avid rock climber, licensed skydiver, backpacker, and lover of books and coffee.”
According to the National Park Service, a multiagency investigation into Spitz’s death is ongoing.
Man pleads not guilty in stabbing death of cousin SAN DIEGO
A man accused of fatally stabbing his cousin in a Sabre Springs park pleaded not guilty Thursday to a murder charge.
Uriel Cedillo, 22, is accused of killing Poway resident Fatima Marin Cedillo, who was stabbed around 2:30 a.m. Sunday at South Creek Park.
He was arraigned in San Diego Superior Court.
According to Deputy District Attorney Vanessa Gerard, the defendant was angry at his cousin because of injuries he’d suffered in a car crash weeks earlier when she was driving the vehicle.
When the 22-year-old victim arrived at the park on Sunday, she went to give the defendant a hug, the prosecutor said.
Cedillo then pulled out a knife and stabbed his cousin twice in the head and three times in the torso, Gerard said.
Paramedics took the victim to a hospital, where she died at 3:45 a.m.
Cedillo was arrested later that day on Oak Knoll Road, police homicide Lt. Andra Brown said.
The criminal complaint charging Cedillo with murder includes a special-circumstance allegation of lying in wait, meaning he could face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole, if convicted on all counts.
Cedillo remains jailed without bail.
Former county employee pleads not guilty to felony SAN DIEGO
A former county employee faces a criminal charge following accusations that he steered contracts to his wife’s company, then financially profited from her getting the work, the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
Rolf Bishop, 73, pleaded not guilty Thursday in San Diego Superior Court to a felony charge that he violated a conflict-of-interest prohibition barring county employees from having a financial stake in any contracts they make in their official capacity on the job.
If convicted, Bishop could face up to three years in prison.
Bishop was the chief deputy for information systems at the county’s Assessors/Recorder/County Clerk’s Office. It was in that job, as chief information officer, that Bishop recommended that a contractor hire his wife’s company for an ongoing county project, according to prosecutors.
The District Attorney’s Office said Bishop then approved the invoices for work done by her company. They said the couple may have profited in the hundreds of thousands of dollars; the exact amount will be revealed during the criminal case.
The alleged offenses happened between March 2017 through the end of 2020, according to the criminal complaint.