Passenger killed in crash on snowy highway was Borrego Springs woman, 60
CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY
NORTH COUNTY
A passenger who was killed when the car she was riding in slid into an embankment then rolled over on a snowy highway near Warner Springs was identified Friday as a Borrego Springs resident.
Alberta Fernandez de Zuniga, 60, died in the Thursday crash on San Felipe Road, also known as Highway 2, according to the county Medical Examiner’s Office.
Zuniga was in the back seat of a 2019 Toyota Camry driven by her 29-year-old son from Borrego Springs, according to authorities including the California Highway Patrol. Another son was in the front passenger seat.
The three were headed to San Marcos. Both men wore seat belts, but their mother was not wearing one, CHP Officer Jeff Christy said.
According to the Medical Examiner’s Office, the car was “on a steep slope and there was a thick layer of ice and slushy snow on the road.”
At about 6:50 a.m., the driver lost control of the Camry, which hit an embankment and rolled, authorities said. Zuniga, who’d been thrown from the back seat into the dashboard and windshield, died at the scene, authorities said. has died, authorities said.
Misti Dawn Vaughn was driving on the transition ramp from eastbound state Route 78 to northbound I-15 around 8 a.m. Monday when her Ford Ranger spun out and veered to the left across freeway lanes, according to information from the California Highway Patrol and the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The pickup was then struck on the passenger side by a big rig and subsequently struck by a Toyota 4Runner, according to the CHP.
Vaughn was taken to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, where she was admitted to the intensive care unit and was given a “poor prognosis for recovery,” the Medical Examiner’s Office reported. She died at the hospital at 10:12 p.m. Thursday.
The big rig driver, a 50-year-old Murrieta man, and the Toyota driver, a 19-year-old Santee woman, both remained at the scene and were unhurt, according to the CHP.
Neither drugs nor alcohol were believed to have been factors in the crash, the CHP said.
City News Service
Woman struck by car died two days after crash
HILLCREST
A 47-year-old woman who was struck by a car earlier this month near the North Park Library died in a hospital two days after the crash, authorities said Thursday.
Graciela Mondragon was hit and gravely injured around 2:50 p.m. on Dec. 16, while walking across 31st Street near the library, according to San Diego police and the county Medical Examiner’s Office.
A man driving a 2014 Toyota Corolla made a left turn from North Park Way onto 31st Street when his car struck Mondragon at a low rate of speed, authorities said.
Medics took Mondragon to Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest, where she underwent at least one surgery for brain bleeding, a skull fracture and facial injuries, authorities said.
“Her condition steadily declined and on (Dec. 18), she was pronounced dead by hospital staff,” the Medical Examiner’s Office said in a statement. She died a little after noon of blunt force head injuries.
Mondragon “was loved by everyone that knew her,” a friend wrote on a Gofundme page set up to help the victim’s family.
“She always put others’ needs above her own,” the fundraising page said. “Her kindness was infectious.”
The driver of the Corolla that hit Mondragon remained at the scene and was not believed to have been driving under the influence, San Diego police said a day after the crash.
alex.riggins@sduniontribune.com
Suspected DUI driver crashes into restaurant
IMPERIAL BEACH
A man was arrested on suspicion of DUI just past midnight on Friday after he crashed an SUV into the side of an Imperial Beach
Jack in the Box restaurant, authorities said.
The driver of a Jeep SUV lost control of the vehicle and struck the side of the building, but did not crash through the wall, sheriff ’s Lt. Cliff Rinder said.
The crash was reported around 12:05 a.m. at the restaurant on Palm Avenue near Ninth Street. A passenger was in the Jeep but Rinder had no information on that person’s condition.
Medics took the driver to a hospital, then he was booked into jail on DUI charges, Rinder said.
City News Service
Driver suffers major injuries in accident
EAST COUNTY
The driver of a commercial vehicle that rolled over Friday on Highway 78 in a community east of Ramona was taken to a trauma center with major injuries, a Cal Fire spokesman said.
The crash — near a community in San Diego County known as Ballena — was reported shortly after 12:30 p.m. on Highway 78 at Old Julian Highway, according to Capt. Issac Sanchez, who said the unidentified driver had to be rescued from the wreckage.
Medics took the victim to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, according to the California Highway Patrol.
A stretch of Highway 78 near Witch Creek was closed to traffic as crews worked to free the driver, Sanchez said.
City News Service
Crews battle large fire in abandoned warehouse
BARRIO LOGAN
Several dozen firefighters battled a two-alarm blaze Thursday night in Barrio Logan at what was believed to be an abandoned warehouse, authorities said.
Damage was estimated at $1.2 million to the building that once housed Aramark Uniform Services on Dalbergia Street, according to fire and online sources.
The cause of the blaze remained under investigation on Friday.
The fire was reported around 9:50 p.m. at a commercial structure near Main and Vesta streets. The first crews there saw thick, black smoke pouring out of the building, San Diego Fire-rescue Department spokeswoman Mónica Muñoz said.
They couldn’t go inside or on the roof to fight the flames because of the extensive damage to whole building, she said.
A ladder truck doused the warehouse with water. About 100 firefighters and other emergency crews from San Diego, National City, Chula Vista and Coronado fought the blaze using more than a dozen engines and trucks, according to an online incident report.
Muñoz said it took them two hours to knock down most of the flames. Crews stayed on overnight drenched hot spots.
Staff writer Pauline Repard contributed to this report.