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An off-duty border patrol agent was killed in a car accident in El Centro. (Photo: Joselito Villero | Imperial Valley Press)

A 26-year-old border patrol agent was killed in a car accident Friday near El Centro. The off-duty agent was on his way to work.

•     A border patrol agent was on his way to work when he approached a four-way stop intersection.  

•     A Ford SUV traveling on the other road broadsided the agent’s vehicle. Both overturned.

•     The agent was ejected and died at the scene. The other driver was hospitalized.

The fatal accident occurred Friday afternoon at Bowker and McCabe roads, just southeast of El Centro, according to a report in the Imperial Valley Press.

The agent, 26-year-old Francisco Puga of Calexico (on the U.S. side of the border) was driving a 2005 Kia Rio northbound on Bowker Road, approaching the stop sign at McCabe Road.

A 2005 Ford Expedition traveling westbound on McCabe Road broadsided the Kia Rio, hitting the small SUV on the right side. The impact caused both vehicles to roll over, the CHP report said.

Puga, who reportedly was not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected from his vehicle and suffered fatal injuries. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the Ford Expedition, a 43-year-old woman from Mexicali (on the Mexico side of the border), sustained serious injuries and was taken to El Centro Regional Medical Center to be treated. The extent and severity of her injuries was not immediately known.

Puga had been with the Border Patrol for about seven years, according to Lombardo Amaya, union president of National Border Patrol Council Local 2554.

The intersection of Bowker and McCabe roads, where this accident occurred, is considered by locals to be very dangerous, according to the news report. Past CHP reports indicate that it is considered a four-way stop, but the only stop signs are on Bowker Road.

Roadway defects such as improper signage create dangerous road conditions that can lead to accidents, catastrophic injuries, and even death.

El Centro Car Acccident Lawyers

Oil-slicked roads caused several accidents on Highway 18 in Crestline. (Photo: Crestline Courier-News)

Dangerous road conditions caused several spin-outs and two injury accidents Monday afternoon on Highway 18 in Crestline.

•   An oil slick covered several areas in a 5-mile stretchof Highway 18 between Lake Gregory Drive and Panorama Point.  

•   The oil slick caused a vehicle to slide out of control and crash head-on into an oncoming vehicle. One of the drivers suffered major injuries and had to be airlifted via helicopter to a hospital.

•   Another car hit the oil slick and rolled over before crashing into the side of the mountain.

•   Officials closed the highway for five hours to clear the accident scene and clean up the oil slick.

The first car accident occurred around 5:12 p.m., according to an article in the Crestline Courier-News.

The California Highway Patrol said that 29-year-old Jerry Ward of Crestline was driving a 1982 Subaru Brat downhill on Highway 18 when his vehicle hit an oil slick on the road.

The Subaru slid out of control and crossed into the oncoming traffic lane, where it crashed head-on into a 2005 Honda Element driven by 47-year-old Ronald Fuller of Lake Arrowhead.

Ward suffered major injuries. Crest Forest Fire emergency crews responded to the scene and airlifted the victim via helicopter to Loma Linda University Medical Center, about 23 miles away.

Fuller suffered minor injuries. He was treated and released.

The second injury accident happened about 15 minutes later. In that single-vehicle crash, 20-year-old Ardany Alonzo of Twin Peaks drove into the oil slick and lost control of his 1991 Honda Accord, the CHP said. The Honda slid, rolled over, and crashed into the side of the mountain. The car came to rest on its roof.

Alonzo sustained minor injuries. He was treated and released, the CHP said.

CHP officers also saw a number of skid marks in the oil slick area, indicating other accidents had taken place there. The slick was spread along a five-mile stretch of the highway, south of Lake Gregory Drive.

“We suspect something leaked from a vehicle, some sort of a waxy, oily substance that covered several locations of the road and turnouts,” said Caltrans spokesperson Terri Kasinga.

Caltrans officials closed that stretch of the highway for nearly five hours while emergency crews cleared the accident scenes and cleaned the oil slick. They applied absorbent material to the spills and then swept up the material after it soaked up the oil. The highway was reopened at around 10 p.m., the CHP said.

The cause of the oil slick is under investigation.

Dangerous Road Conditions

Road hazards, including oil slicks, can lead to a variety of motor vehicle accidents and injuries. Dangerous road conditions can be caused by:

• potholes, broken or uneven pavement, or cracked or buckling asphalt
• inadequate or improper speed limits based on road design or traffic patterns
• defective, malfunctioning or poorly designed road signs or markings, including lane markers
• poor drainage, resulting in flooding or slippery road surfaces
• lack of warning of steep inclines, sharp curves or blind entrances
• construction debris
• oil slicks and fuel spills

Crestline Car Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented car accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

Two PG&E workers were killed when their company truck plunged into a Feather River reservoir. (Photo: KHSL News)

Two Pacific Gas and Electric employees were killed in a car accident Thursday when the company truck plunged off of Highway 70 into a reservoir in the Feather River Canyon near Belden, about 55 miles east of Chico.

•   A PG&E truck drifted onto the shoulder of the highway on a sharp curve and went out of control when the driver tried to steer it back onto the road.

•   The truck plunged into a reservoir in the Feather River Canyon and quickly sank.

•   Two passengers survived. The driver and one passenger died at the scene.

The fatal highway crash occurred at about 4:30 p.m., according to a report in the Plumas County News.

California Highway Patrol Sgt. James Wheaton said 29-year-old Ryan Patrick Miles of Chico was driving one of PG&E’s blue Ford F-550 utility trucks westbound on Highway 70 when the accident happened.

There were three other PG&E employees in the truck. The CHP report said 31-year-old Aaron Weiss of Chico was riding in the front passenger seat, while 48-year-old Mike Diefenderfer of Paradise and 25-year-old Loren Bird of Chico were riding in the back seat.

The crew had been working on a project in the Caribou area and was headed back to Chico, according to a KHSL News report. CHP investigators don’t know exactly what happened, but Wheaton said it does not appear that excessive speed or any kid of drugs or alcohol were involved.

Wheaton said it looks like the truck’s tires drifted off onto the right shoulder of the highway on a sharp left curve. At this point, investigators are speculating that Miles turned quickly to try to get the tires back on the pavement, but he may have overcorrected and lost control of the vehicle.

At that point the truck apparently went into a skid and then veered off of the freeway, plunging into the Rock Creek Reservoir. Wheaton said the truck sank very quickly.

Diefenderfer and Bird, who were riding in the back seat, were able to get out of the truck. One of them was not injured but the other suffered some sort of shoulder or neck injury, according to a report in the Chico Enterprise-Record.

Miles and Weiss were not able to get out of the car. A dive team searched the water and found their bodies. Both of them died at the scene.

The unanswered question is what caused Miles to allow the truck to drift off of the road in the first place. The CHP had received reports that a large boulder had rolled into the middle of Highway 70 not far from the accident scene, according to the Enterprise-Record. Wheaton did not mention the boulder as a factor in this accident, but he did say that rocks and boulders can create dangerous road conditions on that section of Highway 70.

“We do have a lot of accidents on this highway,” Wheaton told KRCR News. “A lot of time it’s caused by rocks, large boulders. Occasionally people do go into the river. Once they go into that water, you don’t have very much time and you need to get out of that car as quickly as possible. This highway does have a lot of natural dangers and you have to be very careful driving on the highway.”

Plumas County Car Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorneyClifford Blackman, have successfully represented highway accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.