MOTORCYCLIST DIES AFTER CRASH IN MIRAMAR RANCH

A 26-year-old man died when the motorcycle he was riding at a high rate of speed crashed early Saturday in the Miramar Ranch neighborhood, police said.

The 2017 Yamaha motorcycle was going west on Scripps Poway Parkway about 1 a.m. when it hit the raised median in a curve in the road and crashed in the eastbound lanes near Spruce Run Drive, according to San Diego police.

The man died at the scene. His name was not released.

No other vehicles were involved, police said.

philip.diehl@ sduniontribune.com

Armed man takes cash from Korean restaurant

An armed man held up employees a few minutes before closing time Friday night at a Kearny Mesa restaurant, police said.

It happened about 9:50 p.m. at Woomiok, a Korean restaurant in a strip mall off Convoy and Ostro streets, San Diego police Sgt. Clinton Leisz said.

The robber entered through a back door and sat down, waiting for customers to leave. He then walked up to the counter and pointed a handgun at an employee, demanding cash from the register, police said.

The robber reached over and removed cash from the drawer.

The employee grabbed at the gun, and during the struggle the robber dropped it. He then ran away, leaving the gun behind, police said.

No injuries were reported.

Investigators believe the robber may have been a former employee, police said. He was described as Hispanic, 22 years old, 5 feet 5 inches tall, 135 pounds and wearing black clothing.

alex.riggins@ sduniontribune.com

8 arrested in Coronado after beaching boat

After authorities saw a small boat creep into United States waters in dense fog early Friday morning, federal agents caught eight men apparently sneaking into the country after beaching their boat in Coronado, the U.S. Border Patrol announced.

The men, five from Mexico and three from Yemen, were all in the country illegally, the agency said in a news release.

It’s rare for people trying to sneak in from the Pacific

Ocean to come from countries not in the Western Hemisphere or along the Pacific Rim, Supervisory Agent William Rogers said.

The incident started about 1:15 a.m. when authorities with the Joint Harbor Operations Center saw a small boat enter U.S. waters.

Using what the Border Patrol called “additional surveillance equipment,” the watchers were able to track the boat in dense fog.

As agents headed to the area, the group ditched the small boat on the shore just north of Coronado State Beach. The eight men on board took off running. Five were caught quickly, and the other three were found hiding nearby, the Border Patrol said.

The men ranged in age from 19 to 36 years old.

teri.figueroa@ sduniontribune.com

Death of county inmate natural, autopsy finds

The last person to die in San Diego Sheriff ’s Department custody last year died of natural causes due to heart disease the morning before Thanksgiving, a sheriff ’s lieutenant reported Friday, citing the results of an autopsy.

Matthew Godfrey, a 46year-old resident of San Diego’s Grant Hill neighborhood, died Nov. 27 at the San Diego Central Jail from “hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease,” according to a news release from homicide Lt. Michael Blevins. Godrey was the 16th person to die in sheriff ’s custody in 2019.

Hypertensive cardiovascular disease is heart disease caused by hypertension, or high blood pressure. Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease refers to the buildup of fats and cholesterol that obstructs the flow of blood.

Godfrey’s death was initially reported by The San Diego Union-tribune in December as a suicide, citing unnamed sources.

A copy of the autopsy report has not yet been released publicly.

Deputies found Godfrey on the floor of his cell just before 11:45 a.m. the day he died, Blevins said. Godfrey was the only person assigned to the cell, and he was unresponsive when deputies went in to begin trying to save him.

Paramedics took over the life-saving efforts, but Godfrey died at 12:15 p.m., Blevins said.