DUI suspect arrested after fatal head-on crash
Authorities arrested a 20-year-old man on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence after he drove the wrong way on Highway 101 and crashed into an oncoming vehicle, killing two occupants and severely injuring two others.
Richard Lawrence Rodriguez, of Tustin, was traveling northbound in southbound lanes in a 2003 Mitsubishi Montero at the time of the head-on collision, which occurred at approximately 1:20 a.m. on Sunday, according to a California Highway Patrol incident report.
Marcos A. Arredondo, 18, and Macrina M. Ocampo, 58, both of Goleta, died as a result of the collision, while two girls, aged 15 and 16, suffered serious injuries and remain hospitalized. Rodriguez sustained only minor injuries and authorities planned to book him into jail after he was treated.
An on-duty sheriff’s sergeant had spotted the wrong-way driver minutes before the collision while traveling south on the highway near Fairview Avenue, according to the CHP report. She swerved to avoid the oncoming car and immediately reported the situation to emergency dispatchers.
A deputy entered southbound lanes at Glen Annie and Storke roads and spotted the wrong-way Mitsubishi heading his way. Authorities said there were two vehicles between the deputy and the oncoming vehicle.
“It was later determined that the vehicles were traveling together, on their way back to Goleta from Lompoc,” according to the incident report. “When the deputy activated his emergency lights, the driver of the first vehicle observed the lights behind him and swerved right, narrowly avoiding the oncoming vehicle, which he did not see. Seconds later, the deputy witnessed the wrong-way vehicle strike the second southbound vehicle head on.”
The Mitsubishi came to a stop in the center divider with Rodriguez trapped, while the other vehicle, a 2000 Honda Accord, stopped in the center lane with four occupants trapped inside.
Ocampo, the front passenger in the Honda, was pronounced dead at the scene, while Arredondo succumbed to his injuries shortly after being taken to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
Arredondo’s parents had been traveling in the vehicle that swerved out of the way of the Mitsubishi, authorities said, and pulled over to the shoulder following the collision. Their two daughters, the backseat passengers in the Honda, suffered serious injuries including bone fractures, spinal fractures and traumatic head injuries.
All five people involved in the incident had their seatbelt fastened, according to the CHP report. Firefighters had to use hydraulic rescue equipment to pull the victims from the wreckage.
Authorities closed down southbound lanes between Storke and Los Carneros roads during the investigation, which ultimately determined Rodriguez was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the collision.
Comment on this article
Crash : 11/10/2009
Absolutely terrible and heartbreaking.
SV
Where vision is rejected, people perish : 11/10/2009
Drunks going the wrong way, meth addicts weaving through, passing on the double-yellow, traffic lights that take forever, slow-pokes in the fast lane, drive-by shootings, broiling parking lots, blunt force trauma, uninsured motorists, overheating, sticker shock, quadriplegics, paraplegics, DMV, lemons, blind spots, backseat drivers, getting keyed, close calls, hydroplaning, black ice, body cancer, head-ons, broadsides, rear enders, fender benders, blowouts, idiot lights, expensive repairs, gouged at the pump, traffic jams, chop shops, booming bass, road rage, road kill, stone bruise, tailgating, jaws of life, one-eyed monsters, asleep at the wheel, exploding gas tanks, sideswiped, blaring car alarms, horn happy, DOA, MADD, CHP, empty carpool lanes, construction zones, notification of next of kin, speed traps, sobriety checkpoints, zero visibility fog, hit and run, speed bumps. Why do people grip their living nightmare so tightly? The great Nobel prize-winning animal psychologist, Konrad Lorenz, in describing mammalian path habits probably came closest to explaining the apparent insanity of human beings that very easily accept the unacceptable when sending their loved ones into the killing zones of our highways. 4000 per year, 11 per day dead in California traffic. 40,000 per year, 110 per day dead in United States traffic. 1.2 million per year, 3300 per day dead globally in Earth traffic. But still, I think, Lorenz missed the mark. Any other species, operating purely on the success of a path would have found a better alternative path by now to escape the vicious casualties and carnage presented by our highways. Ironically, humans are the most obstinate species. And it’s not like an alternative plan hasn’t been proposed. I proposed a very excellent alternative transportation system during my 2003 Recall election campaign. My proposal was totally ignored despite being the only engineering plan amidst a crowd of political platforms, including that of the Arnold, based on the usual ethereal rhetoric. My proposal is still ignored. I have to resist thinking people prefer death over change. Utilizing existing technology we could shape systems capable of transporting us at unprecedented speeds, comfort and safety where tolerance for collision is designed at zero. And the cost would be far less than the cost of rebuilding the current deadly transportation infrastructure that must inevitably be reconstructed. On an equatorial ocean made as still and flat as a swimming pool covered with bubble wrap, our New California transport conduit could form the matrix within which each of our individual territorial island birth endowments are set. Within the next year as in years past, entire families will be suddenly incinerated in automobiles. Some, including small children, will experience the sensation of an impact at 100 mph when their vehicle moving at 50 mph hits head-on with another doing 50 mph. (It’s hell on circulatory systems.) Twisted necks, shredded heads, severed spines, impaled chests, cooked flesh, flattened faces, shattered skeletons, tensile failure, compressive failure, involuntary fracture of body parts are just some of the most degrading and humiliating modes of failure that will kill more than a million human beings in traffic this next year. If we worked hard, this could be the last year it has to happen. Stop choosing death. The dragon can be killed. There’s a better path. Support my vision.
Neil Baker
R.I.P : 11/10/2009
ROLL IN PARADISE MARCOS ANTHONY ARREDONDO. ILL MISS YOU. NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN!
Marine : 11/11/2009
Everyone should also know that Marcos was to be a Marine. I believe he would have entered in January with my son. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Arredondo family.
miss you : 11/11/2009
its hard to believe marcos is really gone....we all miss him and he will always remain in our hearts. marcos has always been a great person and he has an amazing ability to be friends with just about anyone. i remember marcos in elementary school at adams =). i will never forget him and never forget the way he made everyone laugh over the past years. my prayers go out to his family. RIP Marcos
jessica
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