Inland Valley

RANCHO CUCAMONGA >> A teenage boy was arrested Thursday and a second person was being sought in connection with the death of a Pomona man in what investigators believe was a street race.

Julio Lopez, 46, of Pomona was on his way to a Verizon Wireless store when his car was broadsided by a 16-year-old boy driving a Mustang on Wednesday, authorities said.

The teen, whose name was being withheld by San Bernardino County sheriff’s officials, was arrested around 3 p.m. Thursday on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, Teresa McMahon. spokeswoman for the sheriff’s Rancho Cucamonga station, said in an email.

Lopez was trying to make a left turn onto Rochester Avenue from Jersey Boulevard shortly before 4:30 p.m. Wednesday when the fatal collision occurred, according to a San Bernardino County sheriff’s statement.

Deputies said they believe the teen was street racing. Lopez was pronounced dead at the scene.

Laura Lopez, still numb from the shock of her husband’s death, described her 22-year marriage as amazing.

“We did everything together,” she said. “He was full of life. He was the clown of the party. I still can’t believe he’s gone.”

In addition to his wife, he leaves behind a 17-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son.

Investigators said the teen may have been racing another Ford Mustang along Rochester from Arrow Route. The second driver never stopped.

Investigators were looking for the second Mustang, described as a black 2000 to 2003 model with a hood scoop.

Anyone who witnessed the fatal crash or has any information about the other vehicle or driver is asked to contact the Rancho Cucamonga station at 909-477-2800.

Staff Writer Doug Saunders contributed to this report.

You’re not invincible.

Ed Scott knows it, because his son is dead.

Eddie, 17, died June 5 last year. He and the driver of the vehicle he was in had inhaled nitrous oxide — laughing gas.

But within 13 minutes on the 10 Freeway, near where it intersects the 15, there would be no laughing.

Eddie and the driver of the car he was in passed out, Scott said. They lost control and crashed.

“My son was instantly killed,” said Scott, a former Rialto city councilman.

Instantly, it was another life, another lesson, in how one moment, and decision can change many lives.

Law enforcement across the Inland Empire have been out in force this week, saturating a region from Ontario to Redlands with DUI checkpoints and patrols as Labor Day weekend approaches, and revelers party. They’ll continue into the weekend.

And that’s why everyone from police to Scott are trying to get the message out.

“I guess my message to people would be, you’re not invincible,” Scott said. You make a poor choice, drinking or inhaling different types of drugs and the consequence can be very devastating. You could not only lose your life, but the lives of others.”

That law enforcement blitz is fueled by some key numbers.

In San Bernardino alone there have been 13 DUI deaths over the past three years.

• In 2013, out of 18 fatal wrecks, four were DUIs

• In 2014, out of 32 fatal wrecks, seven were alcohol-related and four were drug-related

• This year, out of 24 fatal wrecks, two were alcohol-related

That’s just in one Inland Empire city over three years, according to San Bernardino police Sgt. Vikki Cervantes.

Other cities can relate, and aren’t taking chances.

For instance, if you’re in Ontario on Sept. 5, between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m., don’t be surprised if you see DUI enforcement teams stopping suspected alcohol and drug-impaired drivers.

On Labor Day weekend in 2013, authorities reported 424 crash deaths nationwide. Nearly half of those involved drivers who had been drinking, according to stats from the Ontario Police Department.

Men, according to authorities, are more likely than women to drive drunk. In 2013, 23 percent of men were drunk in alcohol-related crashes — 15 percent for women, according to an Office of Transportation Safety fact sheet.

So, police continue their efforts, and offer some wisdom when they can.

But does the message cut through?

“The numbers are higher than they should be,” Cervantes said. “With all the enforcement, the media, the education we’re putting out there. They are way higher than they should be.”

In the meantime, a father still remembering the loss of his son, tries to get the message through.

“When this happens, you can go two ways,” Scott said. “You can spend your life at the cemetery or try and make a difference.”

Some data, according to an Office of Transportation Safety fact sheet:

• It’s illegal to drive with a BAC (blood-alcohol concentration) of .08 or higher.

• 10,076 people were killed in drunken driving crashes in 2013, and 65 percent were the drunken drivers themselves.

• Among drivers between 18 and 34, who were killed in crashes over Labor Day weekend in 2013, 45 percent of those deaths involved a drunk driver with a BAC.

MONTCLAIR >> Two people are in critical condition following a violent crash Tuesday night in Montclair, officials said.

The crash took place around 9:30 p.m., in the 4800 block of Mission Boulevard, according to a Montclair police statement.

Officers found a vehicle that had crashed into the center median along Mission Boulevard. The force of the impact caused the front end to separate from the rest of the vehicle, officials said.

One occupant was ejected from the vehicle and found lying in the road. A second person was found on the front passenger seat breathing but unresponsive.

Paramedics flew one of the victims to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, and the second was driven to the same emergency room. They are currently listed in critical condition.

Witnesses said the vehicle was traveling at speeds exceeding 80 mph just before the crash, according to the police.

An investigation is being conducted to verify if alcohol was a contributing factor to the collision.

JOHANNESBURG >> At least 38 girls and young women were killed in a crash while travelling to a famous traditional festival in Swaziland, a rights group said on Saturday.

About 20 others were injured when the truck they were in collided with another vehicle on Friday, the Swaziland Solidarity Network said in a statement. The young women and girls were travelling on the back of an open truck, the rights group said.

Police in Swaziland, a small mountainous country of 1.4 million people bordering northeastern South Africa and Mozambique, discouraged reporting on the accident, said the group. Press photographers were prevented from taking pictures at the scene, said a Swazi journalist who insisted on anonymity for security reasons. However some people managed to take photographs with their cell phones.

A high-ranking police officer contacted by The Associated Press refused to comment, saying the matter was related to the “highest authority,” and no details could be disclosed to the media.

“You don’t hide a death,” said Lucky Lukhele, spokesman for the Swaziland Solidarity Network. Members of the Swaziland Defense Force alerted the rights group to the accident, Lukhele said, adding that he expected the death toll to rise.

The females were travelling on a highway between the Swazi cities of Mbabane and Manzini, when the truck carrying them smashed into a vehicle and was then hit in the rear by a second truck, the Times of Swaziland reported.

“We were about 50 on board the first truck that smashed into the Toyota van,” said Siphelele Sigudla, 18, a survivor quoted by the Times of Swaziland.

The girls and young women were on their way to the Swazi king’s royal residence for the annual reed dance.

“We all have heard about the dark cloud that has befallen the ‘imbali,’” said King Mswati III, using the Swati language word for flower, used to refer to the groups of women dancers. Speaking at the opening of an international trade fair in Swaziland’s economic center Manzini, he promised that the affected families would be compensated. He added that an investigation into the accident was underway.

About 40,000 young women participate in the eight-day reed dance ceremony in which they sing and dance, often bare-breasted, as they bring reeds to reinforce the windbreak around the royal residence, a government website said.

Swaziland is Africa’s last absolute monarchy, ruled by King Mswati since 1986. Swaziland held parliamentary elections in 2013, but many international observers say the electoral process is manipulated to prolong the king’s hold on power. According to the king, Swaziland’s image has been damaged by misinformation.

A man in his 70s died Friday morning when the vehicle he was driving crashed into a power pole in San Bernardino.

There was a medical episode for the driver that resulted in the crash, according to San Bernardino police.

The crash occurred at 9:29 a.m. in the 700 block of East Central Avenue, police said.

The driver’s identity was not immediately available.

— Staff report

POMONA — The coroner’s office identified a 30-year-old female pedestrian Thursday who was fatally struck by two vehicles in Pomona, one of which left without stopping.

The accident occurred in the 3600 block of Temple Avenue around 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, said Pomona police Lt. Alex Rilloraza.

Killed at the scene was Lauro Alvarado of Pomona, coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed Winter said.

The driver of the vehicle that initially struck the victim stopped at the scene, but the driver of the second vehicle, which was described as small, old and dark gray, fled, said Pomona police Sgt. William Tucker.

WEST COVINA – A man in a stolen car led police on a pursuit Wednesday that wound through side streets and freeways before it ended with the car hitting a pole in Ontario.

West Covina Police spokesman Rudy Lopez said Andrew Escobedo, 19, of West Covina was arrested on suspicion of grand theft auto and failure to yield.

Lopez said police detected a Lojack signal in the area of Azusa and Cameron avenues around 8:30 a.m. Police located the stolen car but the driver didn’t stop.

Lopez said the suspect went on the 10 Freeway, got off in Pomona then returned back on the 10 Freeway. He then headed to the 15 Freeway, before getting on the 60 Freeway and exited at Haven Avenue in Ontario. Lopez said the suspect crashed into a pole at Haven Avenue and Riverside Drive, abandoned the car and ran. Officers caught him.

The car, a 2015 Mazda MX3, was reported stolen Wednesday to Ontario Police, according to Lopez.

Escobedo is being held at West Covina jail on $75,000 bail. He will be arraigned Friday at West Covina Superior Court.

Pomona police are investigating a fatal hit-and-run crash after two cars struck a man crossing the street Tuesday but only one driver stopped.

Around 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, officers were called to the area of Temple Avenue and South Campus Drive for a person hit by a car, according to a police statement. There they found an unidentified man who had been hit and was in very serious condition.

Paramedics with the Los Angeles County Fire Department provided medical treatment, but the man’s injuries were too severe, and he was pronounced dead.

Through an investigation, officers learned that the man was struck by two different vehicles as he crossed the roadway. The driver of the first vehicle remained at the location and is cooperating with the police investigation, officials said. The driver of the second vehicle, however, fled the scene. Witnesses describe the second vehicle as a small, older, dark-gray vehicle.

The fatal incident is under investigation by the Pomona Police Department’s Major Accident Investigation Team. Anyone with any information about the collision is encouraged to call the Traffic Services Bureau at 909-620-2081.

— Staff report

As tributes to late Verizon Indy Car Series driver Justin Wilson continue to be paid, there is an added urgency to enclose the cockpits of open-wheel cars.

Wilson died Monday night after sustaining a serious head injury in Sunday’s IndyCar race at Pocono Raceway. Wilson was hit by a piece of debris that flew off the car driven by Sage Karem after it crashed. After being struck by the nose cone of Karem’s car, Wilson’s car veered into an inside wall. He was taken out and airlifted to a hospital in a coma.

The talk of an enclosed cockpit — already in use by the National Hot Road Association’s Top Fuel dragsters and by drag racing boats — came to the forefront at a subdued winner’s press conference Sunday as Ryan Hunter-Reay addressed the issue.

“These cars are inherently dangerous with the open cockpit like that, head exposed,” Hunter-Reay said. “Maybe in the future we can work toward some type of (canopy). We’ve seen some concept renderings of something that resembles a canopy, not a full jet fighter canopy, but something that can give us a little protection but keep the tradition of the sport.”

On Tuesday, Motorsports.com reported FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile), the international sanctioning body, plans to hold new closed-cockpit tests next month. FIA first started work on the project in 2009 following crashes involving Henry Surtees and Felipe Massa. Surtees was killed by a loose wheel and, a week later, Massa was severely injured by a spring.

The idea of enclosed cockpits is not a new concept. More than 30 years ago, drag racer Don “Big Daddy” Garlits stunned the sport by introducing an enclosed driver area in his Top Fuel dragster. That was followed by the late Gary Ormsby in his radical streamliner, but neither made it into competition due to weight issues.

In addition to weight, among the immediate open-wheel concerns are that a driver’s movement and vision could be restricted. Furthermore, there are a number of drivers who have privately voiced fear of being trapped if a car is upside down or on fire. There’s also a concern about a lack of peripheral vision.

Unsaid, but a major thought nonetheless, is that open cockpits have a long history in the sport and are viewed as part of the sport. Yet, driver safety is at the root of the current discussion.

It will not be a cheap conversion. In drag racing, the canopies added weight (currently about 30 pounds), costs ($12,000) and a thorough overhaul of the $250,000 chassis that included new seats, padding and a fire extinguishing system.

Graham Rahal, who won the MAV TV 500 in June at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, is one of a few series drivers who are familiar with the drag racing canopy. He’s engaged to NHRA Funny Car driver Courtney Force, whose sister Brittany is in an enclosed dragster. Rahal has said that system wouldn’t work for IndyCar, due to its construction. Nonetheless, he wants to explore the option.

“With our risk of hitting fences and walls, I’d be concerned about that thing popping open when you don’t want it to,” Rahal told USA Today this week. “We’d have to be more creative.”

Then there’s the length of the event. A drag race may last 20 seconds in total time, while a 500-mile race, such as the Fontana event, lasted just under three hours.

“You can’t bake in there. We have to think how we’d (design) it and build it,” said Rahal.

Of the five current drag racers who use the canopies, three drive for Don Schumacher Racing. Tony Schumacher was the first NHRA racer who competed with it, while Antron Brown has twice escaped injury with the enclosure. The first time was at the 2014 Winternationals in Pomona.

In May of this year at Atlanta, Brown again credited the canopy for surviving.

“(The wing) headed right back at me and hit the canopy,” Brown said at the time. “It hit so hard that it buckled it but didn’t break it. I was going 315 mph at the time.

“If the canopy hadn’t been there to stop the wing, it would have hit me in the head. I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you today.”

Escaping such threats are what convinced Tony Schumacher to use the device, originally engineered by crew chief Mike Green and James Brendel, owner of Hondo Boats and Brendel Safety Capsules in Riverside.

“That’s the exact reason I use it,” Schumacher said to USA Today of Wilson’s injury. “I don’t know what’s coming off the car next to me, what’s coming out of the stands. I don’t know if I’m going to hit a bird. I’ve hit three birds. I’m going 330 mph and if (the bubble) can deflect it in some way, I’d like it to do that.

“I’ll say it for the millionth time: I’m glad it’s not mandatory, but I’m surprised everyone doesn’t use it. I wouldn’t drive a car without it.”