Man killed in Pozo Road crash identified as longtime SLO County public defender
.jpg)
A longtime San Luis Obispo County public defender died in a car crash near his Santa Margarita farm on Tuesday evening, members of the legal community confirmed.
A 76-year-old Santa Margarita man was killed when the pickup truck he was driving on Pozo Road collided with a turning semi-trailer truck at about 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, the California Highway Patrol said.
Multiple members of the legal community on Tuesday identified Jim Maguire as the person who was killed in the collision, including the San Luis Obispo Defenders Office, San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Matthew Guerrero, and the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office.
Maguire had co-managed the firm Maguire & Ashbaugh in San Luis Obispo since 1980, retiring at the end of 2016. He owned Rinconada Dairy Farm in Santa Margarita with his wife, Christine.
“I am heartbroken at the loss,” Guerrero told The Tribune. “Many of us cried tonight because we have lost a role model and a friend.”
According to a news release, the man — who the CHP has yet to identify — was driving a GMC Sierra pickup truck westbound on Pozo Road just east of Las Pilitas Road at an unknown rate of speed.
At the same time, a semi-truck was in the process of making a U-turn on the same road, and the trailer was blocking both lanes of travel.
The CHP said it appears the driver of the GMC truck did not see the trailer before the front of his truck collided with the rear of the trailer.
“The subsequent impact resulted in the driver becoming deceased at the scene,” CHP said.
Cal Fire personnel, San Luis Ambulance and San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the scene of the crash. An investigation is ongoing.
This story was originally published November 24, 2021 at 10:54 AM.
%20Cropped.jpg)