DIAMOND BAR >> A man died in a solo-car crash on the 57 Freeway in Diamond Bar early Sunday morning, officials said.

The man’s name was not released pending positive identification and notification of family, Lt. Fred Corral of the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner said. He was initially described as a man in his 30s.

He was driving a 2013 Hyundai Sonata northbound on the 57 Freeway, just south of Golden Springs Drive, about 5:15 a.m. when the crash occurred, Officer S. Stoos of the California Highway Patrol’s Baldwin Park area office said in a written statement.

“For an unknown reason, (the driver) allowed his vehicle to veer to the right, crossing over the No. 5 lane right shoulder, subsequently colliding with a metal guardrail located just east of the roadway,” Stood said.

Paramedics took the badly injured man to Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injuries, CHP and coroner’s officials said.

The crash remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact Officer F. Riviera of the CHP’s Baldwin Park area office at 626-338-1164.

WEST COVINA >> A physician from La Verne died late Friday in a solo-car crash along Cameron Avenue in West Covina, police said.

Delroy Stelmo Hewling, 68, died at the scene of the 7 p.m. crash in the 2600 block of East Cameron Avenue, just east of Citrus Street, West Covina police Lt. Dennis Patton said.

Hewling was at the wheel of a Nissan Maxima that veered to the side of the road and struck a parked Chevrolet Camaro, West Covina police Lt. Dennis Patton said. West Covina Fire Department paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

The cause of the crash remained under investigation by the West Covina Police Department’s Major Accident Investigation Team, Patton said.

Officials were looking into the possibility Hewling may have suffered a medical problem prior to the crash. His cause of death was to be determined by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.

According to California Medical Board records, Hewling practiced medicine out of an office in West Covina.

He graduated the University of the West Indies in Jamaica in 1971, and was first licensed to practice medicine in California in 1981, records show.

YUCAIPA >> The driver involved in a deadly February 2013 bus crash in Yucaipa will be tried on eight felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.

Norberto Bravo Perez, 55 of San Ysidro, learned the news Friday during a preliminary hearing held before Judge Alexander R. Martinez in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Witnesses described the events leading up to the bus crash near Bryant Street on Highway 38 that killed eight people. Dozens of passengers traveled from Tijuana, Mexico, to Big Bear aboard a Scapadas Magicas (Magical Escapes) bus for a “fun day in the snow” on Feb. 3, 2013, said Deputy District Attorney Carey Epstein.

Thirty-eight, including Perez, were on board.

The bus driven by Perez left Tijuana and made two stops, including one in Redlands, on the way to the Snow Summit ski resort.

Several passengers told authorities they overheard Perez making phone calls on a speakerphone to Scapadas Magicas about a faulty brake valve, said California Highway Patrol Officer Omar Hernandez.

In Big Bear, Hernandez said a passenger was asked to sit in the driver’s chair with his foot on the brake pedal so Perez could inspect the bus. He told the passenger he had to take the bus down to a “level surface” for further inspection.

He did and returned to the ski resort to escort passengers down the hill.

California Highway Patrol Officer William Bozyk said Friday he interviewed Perez at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton where he described his view of events following the crash.

He told Bozyk he had 35 years of experience driving tour buses and had inspected the vehicle prior to leaving Tijuana.

“He told me that he did not find any fault with the braking system before he left,” Bozyk said.

Perez had driven the 1996 Van Hool Tour bus to a casino with passengers on board the day before. Perez said he did not recall having any issues with the vehicle at the time.

Stephen Turner, a motor carrier specialist for the California Highway Patrol, inspected the bus after the crash. He said he discovered many issues with its braking system, including two brake drums in the vehicle’s front axle that were cracked and existed before the trip began.

The brake drums were worn out and the brakes need to be realigned, he added.

“These issues would have made the vehicle in question very unsafe to drive,” he said, adding later Perez’s pre-trip inspection should have initiated several red flags.

Following witness testimony, Martinez determined sufficient probable cause existed to hold Perez for trial on the charges.

Perez’s next court date is set for Dec. 18 for an arraignment.

Perez remains in custody at West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga on $1 million bail.

Martinez denied a request from the defense to lower Perez’s bail to $100,000 because Perez does not have a permanent address in California and the flight risk “was high.”

Perez pleaded not guilty to the charges on Nov. 19.

If convicted, he could face a maximum of 15 years in state prison.

FRESNO >> A medical helicopter carrying a patient to a hospital crashed amid heavy rain and fog in a rural area of central California, killing all four people aboard, officials said.

The SkyLife air ambulance had a pilot, a nurse, a paramedic and a patient aboard when it went down in a remote field about halfway through its planned 50-mile trip Thursday night, American Ambulance president Todd Valeri said at a news conference.

The Bell helicopter was headed from Porterville Municipal Airport south to San Joaquin Community Hospital in Bakersfield when it crashed, Kern County fire officials said. Officials did not say why the patient was being taken to the hospital, and the names of the dead are being withheld until family members can be informed.

There was dense fog and heavy rain in the area and it wasn’t clear whether that caused the crash, but “weather conditions are always a factor,” Valeri said.

The weather also made it difficult to find and reach the site, and rescue crews didn’t get there for more than two hours after the helicopter went missing.

The crew notified flight dispatch that it was leaving Porterville at 6:52 p.m., according to Dan Lynch, EMS Director for Fresno, Kings, Madera and Tulare counties.

At 7:05 p.m., dispatch tried to raise the helicopter for a routine check in, but got no response, Lynch said. After checking with airport towers in Fresno and Bakersfield, the dispatch center notified Kern County authorities that the aircraft was missing and provided its last GPS reading.

A sheriff’s helicopter crew reported finding the debris field on private property near the town of McFarland around 8:35 p.m. Rescuers reached the crash site around 10 p.m. and confirmed the fatalities.

The helicopter was staffed by a “seasoned crew,” Lynch said. “They had been a team for quite some time”.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board would investigate, officials said.

Air Ambulance’s Skylife Air Medical service operates three helicopters out of the Fresno and Visalia airports. Valeri said that SkyLife has never had an aircraft crash since it partnered with Rogers Helicopters Inc. in 1991. The air ambulance transports about 1,000 patients a year, he said.

LOS ANGELES >> The parents of a 19-year-old autistic man who was found dead after being left alone on a Whittier school bus filed a wrongful-death lawsuit today against the bus transportation company.

Eun Ha Lee and Sang Sik Lee contend in their Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that Pupil Transportation Cooperative had policies in place designed to prevent students from being left on buses, but they were not followed, and “this tragedy which needlessly took their beloved son away from them should have never happened.”

Hun Joon “Paul” Lee, 19, of Whittier, was found unresponsive around 4:15 p.m. Sept. 11 aboard the bus, which was parked at the PTC bus depot at 9402 Greenleaf Ave. in Whittier, according to police and fire officials. Bus drivers who found him tried to perform CPR, as did paramedics who arrived at the scene, but Lee was pronounced dead.

PTC officials could not be reached late today for comment.

According to police, Lee rode the bus to a transition program at the Sierra Education Center near Sierra Vista High School at about 8:30 a.m. Friday, and should have boarded it to return home by 4 p.m. When he didn’t get home on time, his mother called the school district, which called Pupil Transportation, leading to his discovery by the driver.

The lawsuit contends that Lee never got off the bus at school and the driver returned to the bus depot, “locked it and left” with Lee still inside.

“September 11, 2015, was a typical hot summer day with temperatures nearing 100 degrees,” according to the lawsuit, which claims that PTC officials left Lee on the bus “all morning and all afternoon.”

The lawsuit claims the company employees failed “to do a mandatory and routine sweep of the subject bus prior to exiting, especially considering that there were only three children on the subject bus who were of special needs.” The bus operator also failed “to document or confirm (Lee’s) arrival at school,” failed to escort him off the bus and “neglected to pay attention to (Lee) for an extended period of time during the bus ride and failed to recognize, respond to or assist (Lee) in any manner.”

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.

In the days after Lee’s death, PTC officials announced a series of policy changes designed to prevent anyone from being left on a bus.

Spokesman Tom DeLapp said the company implemented a “team checking system so no one individual can sign off on the fact a bus is clear.” He said two adults will have to walk the bus before it is cleared.

The company also planned to hire a school-bus safety expert to “help advise us on whether we have the highest safety standards we can have.” It also outfitted its buses with “electronic notification systems,” which require drivers to walk to the back of the bus before the vehicle can be cleared.

DeLapp said the company reached out to Lee’s family, and the company’s board voted to donate $10,000 to the family to help cover funeral and other costs.

BREA — A 31-year-old Anaheim man was behind bars today on suspicion of possession and transportation of marijuana with a street sales value as high as $500,000, according to Brea police.

Tomas Antonio Linares was arrested Saturday afternoon based on a tip from a witness who reported a suspicious vehicle parked in the employee lot of a Bank of America office at 275 S. Valencia Ave., according to Brea police Lt. Darrin Devereux.

The tip on the U-Haul van prompted police to check out the vehicle containing four large garbage bags, with one that turned out to hold smaller bags of marijuana, Devereux said.

Undercover detectives on surveillance watched the van until 4:45 p.m. when Linares got in and drove away, the lieutenant said.

Police stopped the van in Placentia, where 107 pounds of marijuana was seized in the van, Devereux said. Wholesale, in bulk, the drug was worth about $107,000, but when packaged into smaller bags for sale, the profit could zoom up to $500,000, he sad.

Police cited the case as a good example of the effectiveness of the admonition, “If you see something, say something,” Devereux said.

Linares was being held in the Orange County Jail without bail.

WESTMINSTER >> Authorities on Monday identified a man who was fatally injured in a crash on the 405 Freeway in Westminster.

Robert Pineda, 35, of Claremont was driving a 2008 Honda CR-V just after midnight Sunday in the carpool lane, north of Newland Street, when the SUV swerved into the center divider and overturned, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Tom Joy.

Pineda, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the SUV as it rolled over, he said.

A Mercedes-Benz SUV crashed into the Honda when it finally stopped, and a 28-year-old Claremont woman who was in the passenger seat next to Pineda sustained “major injuries” in the collision, Joy said.

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APPLE VALLEY >> A jet crash that killed two people Sunday afternoon had shut down the Apple Valley Airport for at least the next 24 hours, fire officials confirmed.

Reports indicate the crash took place just after 2 p.m. and officials have identified the craft as a L-39 jet, a high-performance jet trainer aircraft developed in Czechoslovakia.

Apple Valley Fire Protection District officials tweeted the airport confirmed two people had died in the fiery crash.

All the flights in and our of the Apple Valley Airport have been canceled as firefighters continue to try to extinguish the crashed jet.

Flights in and out of the airport have been cancelled, fire officials said.

The Federal Air Administration has been alerted to the crash. The FAA will be the lead investigating agency. A cause for the crash has not been released.

SAN DIMAS >> A Temple City woman died early Saturday in a three-vehicle crash on the 210 Freeway in San Dimas, authorities said.

Linda Marie Vasquez, 35, died at the scene of the 5:15 a.m. crash in the westbound lanes of the 210 Freeway, just west of San Dimas Avenue, according to Los Angeles County coroner and California Highway Patrol officials.

The collision involved Vasquez’s 2005 Scion xA, a 2004 Ford F-550 pickup truck towing a trailer and a 2002 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck, Officer S. Stoos of the CHP’s Baldwin Park area office said in a written statement.

Vasquez was driving in the fast lane when she made an “unsafe lane change” to the No. 3 lane, the officer said. The front of the Scion struck the trailer of the Ford pickup, sending the Scion spinning out of control.

The Scion ended up “directly in front of” the Toyota Tacoma in the No. 4 lane, Stoos said. The Toyota driver was unable to stop in time to avoid a collision, and the Toyota struck the Scion on its passenger side.

A 38-year-old San Bernardino man driving the Ford truck and a 53-year-old Fontana man driving the Toyota truck were not injured, officials said.

Officials shut down the four right-hand lanes of the freeway for about four hours following the crash.