Spring Valley, California — March 25, 2011
Police say a motorist from Lemon Grove suffered head injuries in a hit-and-run crash with a suspected drunk driver, near El Kelton Shopping Cener, in Spring Valley on Friday.
The California Highway Patrol reports that Lemon Grove resident Yvonne Morgan was headed north along Sweetwater Road, east of the Bay Freeway (California State Route 125) in a 2001 Lincoln Navigator sport-utility vehicle shortly after 6:10 a.m. when she approached the intersection with Jamacha Road.
At the same time, 21-year-old Jose Espinoza was headed east on Jamacha Road in a 2000 Chevrolet pickup truck. Investigators say Mr. Espinoza entered the intersection against a red light, striking Ms. Morgan’s vehicle on the driver’s side. Eyewitness accounts suggest Mr. Espinoza then fled the scene on foot.
Paramedics arrived and transported Ms. Morgan to a nearby hospital for treatment of head trauma.
Officers ran a check on the pickup, which was registered to Mr. Espinoza. They apprehended him on suspicion of driving under the influence and hit and run causing injury after eyewitnesses confirmed him as the driver.
According to the National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, driver error is responsible for more than 90 percent of serious traffic accidents.
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