Inland Valley

POMONA >> A resident died after being hit by a car and the suspected driver was arrested after fleeing the scene, police said Saturday.

Lindsey Ann Prieto, 30, of Pomona was in a crosswalk at Garey Avenue and Rio Rancho Road about 8:30 p.m. Friday when she was hit by a vehicle, according to Pomona police. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.

Witnesses described the vehicle to police, who tracked the car to a home in Ontario. Police did not provide the address, and it was not listed in the booking records of the man who was arrested — Christopher Acosta, 29, of Ontario.

Booking records indicate Acosta was arrested at the Pomona Police Department just before 2 a.m. Saturday.

He was booked into the Pomona jail on suspicion of felony hit and run causing injury or death, according to police.

Acosta’s bail was set at $50,000. He is scheduled to appear Tuesday in Pomona Superior Court.

Name: John Force

Title: NHRA Driver

Age: 65

A drag racing icon, Force’s excitable attitude is as combustible as the 7,000-horsepower funny cars he has driven to a record 16 championships. Reiterating that retirement is not in his vocabulary as recently as February, the Yorba Linda resident plans to add to the 141 national event victories during an unmatched career that has made him the face of his sport. His influence is only growing through his three drag racing daughters, one of which became the first female to win an NHRA event in 2008 and another that provided the 100th win for a female in 2014.

Top 50 Most Powerful in L.A. Sports

• Introduction

• Photo gallery of Top 50 Most Powerful in L.A. Sports

• Dramatic change in Los Angeles sports power structure

A Pasadena police officer was injured Monday afternoon when he was knocked off his motorcycle in Upland on the 210 Freeway just east of Euclid Avenue.

The Pasadena motor officer was taken to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center by way of helicopter, according to a news release from Pasadena Police Department. There was no indication of the extent of his injuries.

The department said the officer, who was not named, was traveling east in the carpool lane just before 5 p.m. when he collided with another vehicle driven by Jerry Gonzalez of San Bernardino. Gonzalez was not injured in the collision.

SAN DIMAS >> Marcus Colasuonno, a San Dimas High School junior, shook his girlfriend Hannah Doonan and pleaded for her to wake up, then shouted at best buddy Jacob Castillo to “stop fooling around.” But Jake, ejected from the back seat he shared with his now “unconscious” prom date Shelbie Moore, just moaned and didn’t move.

Silent and ashen-faced teens stood in front of the “accident” scene as victims of earlier fatal collisions.

“Grim Reapers” Al Martin and Casey Cox, flanking them, had pulled them from classes, the quad and playing fields at San Dimas High, their friends crying as their “obituaries” were read. They would spend the night at Sheraton Suites Fairplex in Pomona, isolated from their parents, families and friends until their “late lives” are celebrated at Tuesday morning’s memorial service in the school gym.

On Monday, 23 SDHS juniors and seniors played active parts in “Every 15 Minutes,” a program pioneered in 1995 by the Chico Police Department, to dramatically deliver the message to teens to avoid driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. The 2-day exercise involves a simulated DUI-accident scene that law enforcement, fire, hospital, school and community officials, parents and students agree is “powerful, passionate and intense.”

“If the intensity makes one person make better choices, it’s worth the 24 hours of intense emotions for us,” said mother Janna Crowther to explain why she and husband Dan let daughter Elizabeth, 16, volunteer as one of the “living dead” or “victims” of earlier “fatal DUI accidents.”

Dan, however, froze when he saw Elizabeth standing, her face and limbs covered with ashen, white and red makeup to feign blood and death. “It’s not real, but it feels real,” the father lamented.

San Dimas Councilman Jeff Templeman, San Dimas sheriff’s station Deputy Kevin Utman and Bonita Unified School District administrator Melissa Neal introduced “Every 15 Minutes” to SDHS in 2001. It started small and expanded when the California Highway Patrol/Baldwin Park secured an Office of Traffic Safety grant and with generous donations from San Dimas Community Hospital, Los Angeles County Fire, Sheriff’s and Coroner’s departments, Sanders Towing, Cole-Schaefer Ambulance, Sheraton Suites Fairplex, the city of San Dimas and Bonita Unified School District. Templeman, SDHS Assistant Principal Rita Kear and Everette Wade, San Dimas sheriff’s school resource deputy, now coordinate the program involving multiple public safety and medical-response agencies.

Marcus wept as CHP officer Rodrigo Jimenez hand-cuffed him after he failed field sobriety tests given by Jimenz and sheriff’s deputies Debbie Iketani and Marcos Rosales. “Where are you taking me?” young Marcus hysterically asked as he watched the coroner cover and take Hannah’s “lifeless” body, firefighters ease Jake out of the car’s smashed back window, an unconscious Shelbie being gently placed on a stretcher and ambulance paramedics speed Shelbie to San Dimas Community Hospital.

“You’re going to jail. You just messed up your life,” Jimenez said as he arrested the 17-year-old for felony drunken driving, a charge that “claimed” two girls’ lives, “paralyzed” his best friend and left citizens Alta Skinner and Jamie Skinner Moreno “injured” in a second car.

Marcus, whose big brother Alex, now 21 and a business major senior at Arizona State University also volunteered for “Every 15 Minutes” in San Dimas, plans to major in biology at UC Santa Barbara. He said he volunteered to be the “drunk” driver to warn other teens to “not be dumb” in their choices and to think about what could happen if they drink, do drugs and then drive.

Veteran law-enforcement agents Wade and Jimenez and Templeman, a retired police administrator, said “Every 15 Minutes” is an effective deterrent against DUI-related accidents. Students Brianna Nunez, Danil Teren, Ryan Ocampo and Evan Celaya all said they don’t do drugs or alcohol whether they’re driving or not and felt “Every 15 Minutes” would stop other teens from doing so.

A woman died Saturday night after her vehicle ran off the roadway and down a steep embankment.

Colton police officers were dispatched about 6:09 p.m. to Barton Road, near Hill Top Drive, for a single vehicle collision, according to a Colton Police news release. A 2007 Hyundai Elantra had run off the roadway and rolled down a steep embankment, ejecting the female driver, who was the only person in the car.

The 57-year-old woman was transported to Loma Linda University Medical Center where she later died from her injuries, police reported.

The woman’s name is not being released, pending notification of next of kin.

NEEDLES >> A tour bus traveling from Laughlin, Nevada, to Ventura caught fire here Sunday afternoon, forcing all 52 passengers to evacuate.

The bus driver said he heard what sounded like a rear tire exploding and pulled the bus to the side of the road about 1 p.m., according to Dean Dickover, a San Bernardino County Fire Department spokesman.

The bus immediately caught fire and smoke filtered through the cabin.

Everyone escaped, however, one man became short of breath, Dickover said. Paramedics tended to him, and he declined a ride to a hospital. Three others suffered heat exhaustion and were treated by paramedics at the scene, near Needles Highway and the 40 Freeway.

Passengers were able to save most of their luggage before the bus became engulfed in flames.

The Fire Department said the $250,000 bus, belonging to a San Luis Obispo company, was just about a total loss.

Fire and Sheriff’s Department employees took the passengers to a storage lot and then to a restaurant while they waited an hour or so for a replacement bus to arrive from Las Vegas to take them home.

LONG BEACH >> On the 15th of 24 Pirelli World Challenge laps, Olivier Beretta was passed for the lead by Johnny O’Connell and Kevin Estrel fior the lead going into the fourth turn. However, by the time Beretta exited the right-handed turn, he was back in the lead and headed to his third win of the season.

Beretta of Monte Carlo, in a Ferrari took first in the crash-marred race, finishing ahead of Chris Dyson (who started 12) and Ryan Dalziel in the featured GT class. Beretta’s margin of victory was 0.999 seconds over Dyson, who was in a Bentley while Dalziel drove a Porsche and finished 1.488 seconds behind the winner.

By the fourth lap of the 50-minute race, two full course cautions had been exhibited. Full course yellows were also displayed after incidents on laps 10, 15 and 19 for the 40-car field.

That slowed the average speed to 56.409 mph and a total of 47.232 miles ovrer the 11-turn course.

“Each restart was a challenge,” said Beretta, who also explained the incident that won the race.

“There were three cars side-by-side with a tight corner,” Beretta said. “It’s a shame it had to happen.”

O’Connell and Estrel passed on the left, but Estrel’s McLaren clipped O’Connell’s Cadillac, which hit the wall and prevented Estrel from passing.

In GTA, Michael Lewis won for the fourth time in five events this season, taking the checkered flag in his Porsche ahead of Martin Fuentes (Ferrari) and Eric Lux (Mercedes). Lewis was fourth overall.

“It was pretty special to finish fourth,” said the Laguna Beach driver. “We were seventh and eighth throughout the race and we were pretty happy with that. I just wanted to survive, really.”

He said he had no close calls during the event that took 50 minutes, 14.291 seconds.

Colin Thompson was the GT Cup winner in a Porsche, ahead of Mitch Landry (Porsche) and Victor Gomez (Porsche). It was the first Long Beach event for Thompson, whose margin of victory was 10.360 seconds.

“I was just trying to survive,” said Thompson. “I was playing it safe, playing it smart. You can’t win the championship in one race, but you can lose it.”

Beretta, Lewis and Thompson all remained points leaders in their respective classes.

POMONA >> Three people were killed within a span of six hours, two in a traffic accident and the other in a house fire.

The two people in the traffic accident died after the vehicle they were traveling in struck a tree about 4:10 a.m. Saturday.

The driver, a 19-year-old Ontario man, and the passenger, an 18-year-old Montclair man, died at scene of the crash in the 1400 block of East Mission Boulevard, east of East End Avenue, police Cpl. JT Garcia said in a written statement.

Their names were being withheld until their families were notified.

The crash happened when the car crossed over the center median, authorities said.

Debris from the crash stretched across the median and two lanes of traffic later in the morning as police and coroner’s officials investigated the destroyed vehicle.

The house fire was reported around 10:20 p.m. Friday. A second person reportedly was injured.

The fire occurred near the intersection of San Raphael Place and Los Felis Drive, Los Angeles County fire Inspector Randall Wright said.

The unidentified victim died at the house, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s investigator Joyce Cato. The other victim was hospitalized with minor injuries.

The fire’s cause was under investigation, Wright said.

Staff Writers Brian Day and Ryan Hagen and City News Service contributed to this report.

SAN DIEGO — A father who walked away from his fatally wounded 4-year-son after a car wreck has been sentenced to four years in prison.

Angelo Fabiani was sentenced Friday for hit-and-run driving after leaving his son at the accident scene in 2013 and walking nearly 18 miles to his home in Imperial Beach.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that (http://bit.ly/1HjFgJp) Fabiani’s truck tumbled over an embankment and came to rest on its side on a retaining wall.

Fabiani unbuckled his son’s car seat but then walked away after the boy fell another 10 feet onto the pavement below.

The boy died a week later.

Fabiani has multiple drunken driving convictions but it’s not clear if he’d been drinking that night.

His attorney, Allen Bloom, says he was in shock.