Sunday, May. 31, 2009
Three fatal accidents over the weekend in North County, Morro Bay
One arrested in what could be DUI-related wreck, another was on private ranch and third took place after driver lost control of vehicle
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closeThree people were killed in separate vehicle accidents in the North County and Morro Bay over the weekend, according to local authorities.
The Morro Bay wreck resulted in the arrest of a Techachapi man in who may have been drunk while driving his motorcycle early Sunday, and whose passenger died, police there said.
George Willard, 39, was booked into County Jail, according to the Morro Bay Police Department.
He was being held on suspicion of gross vehicular mansalughter while drunk, driving under the influence causing bodily injury to a person and driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent causing injury, police said.
About 8:15 a.m., traveling north along Main Street, Willard’s motorcycle collided with the rear of a trailer being towed by a truck slowing to turn east onto Island Street, police said.
He and his 45-year-old female passenger were ejected, and she hit a stopped vehicle on Main, police said.
Police said that alcohol might have been a factor in the crash, but pending tests will confirm Willard’s blood-alcohol level at the time of the accident.
The woman’s name is not being disclosed, pending notification of next of kin.
In the North County, Billy Matthew Karnes, 21, of Shandon was killed after his 1996 Dodge pickup overturned twice, crushing its roof, on a remote ranch northeast of McMillan Canyon Road on Saturday, the CHP reported.
Around 6:30 p.m., his “unsafe speed” caused his pickup’s right tires to veer off the dirt road and dip into an adjent dry creek bed, the CHP said.
The pickup overturned after he steered to the left, sharply rotating the vehicle.
He was not wearing his seatbelt, according to a CHP report.
A Calstar helicopter albulance took him to Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton, where he succumbed to his injuries, the CHP reported.
His passengers, John Charles Wilcox, 23, of Paso Robles and Natalie C. Toeus, 22, of Orange, suffered minor injuries, the CHP said.
Southeast of Paso Robles, a man was killed when his 1991 Isuzu Rodeo overturned multiple times after hitting a fence along Camp 8 Road, just over a mile west of Highway 41 about 10 a.m. Saturday, according to the CHP.
The man, whose identity hasn’t been determined, drove off the road toward the right and onto uneven dirt and grass, the CHP said. But then his car spun counterclockwise after he turned it to the left.
His front-seat passenger, Isidro Cruz Conde, 26, of Paso Robles, was being treated for moderate injuries at Twin Cities.
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