News - Local - South County

Friday, Aug. 22, 2008

Truck wreck near Nipomo kills passenger; driver arrested on suspicion of drunken driving

Another was seriously injured and the driver is arrested on suspicion of DUI, manslaughter

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A Southern California man died and another was seriously injured Thursday in a wreck near Nipomo that ended with the driver arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and vehicular manslaughter.

Jesse A. Bonilla, 19, of Norwalk was driving south on Highway 101 near Highway 166 south of Nipomo about 12:30 p.m. with three people in his 1994 Chevrolet pickup, according to the CHP. He was booked into the San Luis Obispo County Jail.

Bonilla veered into the freeway’s median and lost control of the pickup, and then swerved back into the southbound fast lane and back to the median, the CHP reported.

The pickup spun and rolled a number of times, CHP said, but none of the occupants were ejected and all were wearing seatbelts.

Bonilla might have swerved because the driver of another vehicle made an unsafe lane change, according to the CHP, but that remained unconfirmed as of Thursday night

The front passenger, Chadrick T. Miller, 20, of Fountain Valley was killed.

Back-seat passenger Cydney L. Bonilla, 20, of San Clemente was treated for minor injuries at Marian Medical Center in Santa Maria.

Right back-seat passenger Robert A. Chamberlain, 20, of Huntington Beach, was being treated there for major injuries.

The southbound lanes of 101 were closed, and traffic was rerouted through Olde Towne Nipomo for about 2 1 /2 hours.

—Tribune staff report