Inland Valley

A passenger died Sunday, June 26, when a car blew a tire and rolled over off the 10 Freeway in Redlands, the California Highway Patrol said.

Four other people were injured. The dead passenger, and two other passengers who suffered minor injuries, were not wearing seat belts, a CHP news release said. The driver and another passenger, who were wearing seat belts, had moderate injuries, the CHP said.

The crash happened at about 7:50 p.m. in the westbound lanes. As the 2002 Toyota passed the Ford Street off-ramp, the left rear tire blew out. The car veered across the freeway, struck a curb and tumbled down an embankment, landing on the Ford Street on-ramp, the CHP said.

The passenger who died, a 30-year-old man from Mexico, was thrown from the car. A passerby performed CPR on the man, the Redlands Fire Department said. He was taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, the CHP said.

A man was killed Friday at a Riverside bus stop when a driver veered off the road and ran into him, then plowed into two parked cars, authorities said.

The fatality occurred about 10 a.m. near the intersection of La Sierra Avenue and King Ranch Road, according to the Riverside Police Department.

Sgt. Ryan Taack said that the victim, whose identity was not released, was seated at the Riverside Transit Agency stop when a 2015 Honda Civic going southbound on La Sierra went out of control, jumped the curb and hit him.

“The vehicle continued south, off of the roadway, and also struck two parked vehicles in the driveway of a residence,” Taack said.

He said the victim suffered catastrophic injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene minutes later by Riverside Fire Department paramedics.

The driver, identified only as a 25-year-old Riverside resident, was not hurt, nor was anyone else.

Officers questioned the motorist but did not arrest him.

“At this time, it does not appear drugs or alcohol were factors in the collision,” Taack said.

The investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information was asked to contact the Traffic Bureau at 951-826-8722.

NAPA — Paul Pelosi, the husband of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, was charged Thursday with driving under the influence in connection with a crash he was in last month.

Paul Pelosi, 82, was arrested following the May 28 crash in Napa County, north of San Francisco, after a DUI test showed he had a blood alcohol content level of .082%. The blood sample was taken about two hours after the collision occurred at 10:17 p.m., the Napa County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

He was driving a 2021 Porsche into an intersection near the town of Yountville and was hit by a 2014 Jeep, according to the California Highway Patrol.

He was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury and driving with a .08% blood alcohol level or higher causing injury.

Prosecutors said that under California law, the charges can be filed as a felony or a misdemeanor.

“Based upon the extent of the injuries suffered by the victim, the District Attorney filed misdemeanor charges,” the office said.

The office didn’t describe the injuries of the 48-year-old Jeep driver or give any other information about the person, saying they have requested privacy. The driver of the Jeep was not arrested.

After his arrest, Paul Pelosi was released on $5,000 bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Aug. 3. It wasn’t immediately known if he had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.

If convicted, he would face up to a minimum of five days in jail and up to five years of probation. He would also be required to complete a drinking driver class and install an ignition interlock device in his vehicle — a breathalyzer that requires the driver to blow into it before operating the vehicle, prosecutors said.

Paul and Nancy Pelosi have been married since 1963.

A man and a woman were ejected when their car rammed into a metal barrier on the 10 Freeway in Yucaipa early Sunday morning, killing the man at the scene and sending the woman to a hospital, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The crash occurred on the eastbound side of the 10, just west of the Yucaipa Boulevard exit at around 1:30 a.m., the CHP said.

The woman was driving an Infiniti in the No. 2 lane with the man sitting in the passenger seat. Suddenly, the car veered to the right, skidding across the freeway until it hit the metal barrier adjacent to the rightmost lane.

The force of the crash launched both the driver and passenger out of the vehicle, leaving them down on the freeway.

When CHP officers arrived, they found the man dead and the woman with critical injuries. She was taken to Loma Linda Medical Center where she was recovering Sunday.

The cause of the crash was not known Sunday, the CHP said. Neither victim was identified.

Re: “Autopilot tied to hundreds of crashes” (June 16): As a Tesla owner, I always read articles about autopilot safety. I was dismayed that your business article implied that autopilot cars were unsafe. NHTS reports 38,824 people died from traffic accidents in 2020 but you make out that six deaths in autopilot equipped cars is so significant that it deserves a big write up. Similarly 392 crashes should have been compared to the over six million annual U.S. crashes, a tiny fraction of the total. You should be advocating the safety of autopilot cars as a way to reduce the six million crashes and nearly forty thousand deaths. Every article must present data in context.

— Jerry Callahan, Menifee

More new gun control legislation

Re “Bill would make gun owners buy coverage for their weapons” (June 17):

Two more bills have surfaced to “fix the gun problem.” SB 505 will force gun owners to buy liability insurance for accidental or negligent use of their firearms. There are several problems with this. No insurance company in their right minds would ever issue such a policy. And if the gun was stolen and used how would the rightful owner prove that? In the end, if it passed, it would require the state government to carry the insurance, creating another costly department and yet more infringements on Second Amendment rights. AB 1227 would impose an additional 10% excise tax on firearm and ammunition sales and direct the funds (estimated at $118 million) to be used by another state committee toward “gun violence prevention programs.” In each case, these laws will punish gun owners and potential gun owners for owning guns, rather than addressing the problem of making criminals who use guns subject to serious prison time and personal liability for their crimes. Please notify your state senator and representative to vote no on these further infringements on our personal rights.

— Hayden Lening, Claremont

California needs new  leadership

Re: “Dems in risky bet to aid GOP extremists” (June 17): As I read that there are Democrats promoting far-right candidates so they can potentially set themselves up against an opponent in November who might be easier to defeat, I wonder, will we ever again be able to have faith that those in elected office will work to serve citizens in a manner that most benefits those citizens, rather than dedicate all their energies to simply being re-elected? Conversely, will voters at large ever take seriously unearthing the most qualified candidate rather than merely vote for their party’s choice? Here in California, Democratic leadership has turned our state into a wasteland of problems, high taxes, rampant homelessness, out-of-control housing and border control problems, ceaseless over-regulation and folks continue re-electing the same people with the same flawed policy ideas. These two major problems go hand-in-hand, and it’s disheartening.

— Bob Cunningham, Cherry Valley

Jan. 6 riot

Re: “Are you watching the House hearings” (June 14): I have been watching and hope people who have believed Trump’s lies are watching also. I am proud of Liz Cheney and feel she represents the kind of Republican Party I agree with.

I think the Proud Boys were emboldened by Trumps call to stop the verification of the election. I liked a lot of the changes Trump made when he was in office concerning trying to make us less dependent on foreign oil, the Supreme Court appointees, and less power to agencies hindering business. However, I do not want him to run again because of what happened on Jan. 6. The events of Jan. 6 are inconsistent with the peaceful transfer of power our nation must have.

— Betty Addink, Riverside

Call for letters

Readers are encouraged to send in letters with their views on issues in the Inland Empire and around the state, nation and world.

Letters to the editor should be 150-200 words, and ideally focused on the issues of the day. There is no political litmus test.

Send your thoughts to opinion@scng.com.

A woman was arrested after a woman died and a man was critically injured after a hit-and-run in Hesperia, officials said Saturday.

Police responded to a traffic collision on Cottonwood Avenue, north of Sycamore Street, in Hesperia just after 4 a.m. Sunday, June 12. An investigation revealed Emily Castaneda, 29, of Hesperia, had fallen into the road when a 32-year-old man attempted to assist in getting her off the road.

Castaneda was pronounced dead at the scene and the man was transported to a local hospital in critical condition.

Both were struck by a car, now identified by police as a red 2019 Chevrolet Trax allegedly driven by Katrina Hernandez, 37, of Stanton, according to a news release from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

On Thursday, June 16, Hernandez was arrested driving the suspected involved vehicle in Stanton and booked on suspicion of a hit-and-run causing injury/death.

A student pilot fatally injured in a fiery airplane crash in Hemet declared that his engine had quit just prior to the accident, leading to an attempted emergency landing that resulted in the single-engine plane bounding over a road and plowing into a retaining wall, according to a federal report released Wednesday, June 15.

The National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary findings on the June 7 crash near Hemet-Ryan Airport pointed to a power loss during a touch-and-go maneuver, as well as the aviator’s unsuccessful forced landing, as apparent factors behind what happened.

Federal investigators said the victim, whose identity has not been released, flew the low-wing Beechcraft 77 Skipper solo from Redlands Municipal Airport to Hemet-Ryan Airport — about 20 miles — to run a series of touch-and-goes that morning. Touch-and-go maneuvers involve landing an aircraft on a runway and taking off again without coming to a full stop.

The student pilot’s plans had been approved by his instructor, whose identity was not disclosed. The plane’s owner was identified in Federal Aviation Administration records as Joseph Scarcella, who operates Scarcella Aviation Corp. at Redlands.

According to the NTSB, it was the victim’s second solo trip to Hemet-Ryan. Witnesses said he was using Runway 23 and completed two touch-and-goes, but at about 9:30 a.m., he executed a missed approach for unknown reasons.

A witness told the NTSB that the airman “did not touch down on the runway and remained about 30 feet above ground level.”

“Shortly after, a distress call was transmitted over the (airport) frequency stating, ‘I’m declaring an emergency, loss of power,”‘ the report stated. “The witness recalled that the airplane made a left turn and touched down on the soft dirt surface of a plowed vegetation field.”

Investigators identified markings indicating that the two-seat Beech bounced twice in the dirt field just south of the airport and at one point rolled 660 feet in the dirt, steering to the right. The airplane then bounded across Warren Road and struck a cinder block wall to the rear of a residence at Warren and Mustang Way.

“The airplane’s engine, cabin, left wing root and the right wing breached the retaining wall and sustained thermal damage,” according to the NTSB.

The plane was loaded with avgas in both wings, and that fuel ignited in the crash.

Hemet Fire Department and Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire crews reached the location within a few minutes and found the homeowner using a garden hose in an attempt to prevent the flames from extending to his residence, according to officials.

The pilot was pulled from the aircraft and taken to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center for treatment of extensive burns and other injuries, from which he did not recover. There was no word from authorities on specifically when he succumbed to the injuries.

Firefighters knocked down the fire within a few minutes. The house was not fire-damaged.

Hemet-Ryan Airport, which is county-owned, serves as a Cal Fire air attack base, with crews operating out of the location year-round. It’s also a popular recreational aerodrome, with general aviation enthusiasts in and out of the location daily. Glider activity is also common there.

The NTSB’s final report on the crash may not be released for another two years.

A solo vehicle crash on the 10 Freeway in Montclair led to the car’s three passengers being ejected, killing one of them in the process, the California Highway Patrol said Monday, June 13.

The crash happened Sunday, June 12, around 12:30 a.m. when a Honda traveling at an undetermined speed east on the 10 Freeway left the roadway and crashed into a concrete barrier east of Monte Vista Avenue, the CHP said in a news release.

Of the ejected passengers, one of them was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

It wasn’t immediately clear why the Honda left the roadway, the CHP said.

The condition of the driver, who was identified as a 24-year-old man, and the other two passengers was not immediately clear.

The identity of the victim who died was being withheld pending notification of next-of-kin, the CHP said.

Anyone with information regarding the crash was asked to contact the CHP at 909-980-3994.

A man who ran over and killed a 15-year-old bicyclist on a Riverside street, and then fled, was sentenced Monday, June 13, to six years in state prison.

Rosendo Morales Caldera, 37, of Riverside, had pleaded guilty June 2 to hit-and-run resulting in death, as well as a sentence-enhancing allegation of fleeing the scene of a crime, under an agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors dropped a misdemeanor charge of operating a motor vehicle without a license.

In a hearing at the Riverside County Hall of Justice in Riverside, Superior Court Judge Charles Koosed imposed the sentence agreed to by the prosecution and defense.

Caldera fatally struck Javier Gonzalez of Colton on the night of March 1. Javier was riding in the 2000 block of Main Street, near Poplar Street when Caldera approached from the opposite direction in a black Chevrolet pickup, said Officer Ryan Railsback, a Police Department spokesman. Railsback said that Javier was riding his bike near the center median northbound on Main — facing traffic. Caldera’s southbound pickup plowed into the youth, and Caldera did not stop, Railsback said.

“This collision was captured on video from several businesses in this area, which helped detectives develop information that led to them identifying the driver,” Railsback said.

Caldera was arrested at his home on March 22, Railsback said.

The Gonzalez family released a statement immediately afterward, saying, “We are still devastated by the loss of our sweet Javier, and we miss him every day. But we are thankful the man who killed him is now in jail, and we can slowly begin the healing process.”