Authorities have publicly identified four people who lost their lives in recent weeks in traffic crashes — one after driving onto railroad tracks in the path of a train and three while trying to cross busy roadways on foot.
The most recent took place just after 1 p.m. Tuesday, when 86-year-old Walter Robbins of San Marcos steered a Toyota pickup past a lowered rail-crossing gate at Enterprise Street and West Mission Road in Escondido and pulled to a stop on the rails for unknown reasons, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office.
An eastbound Sprinter train then struck the truck, the agency reported. Robbins died at the scene. The medical examiner has listed the manner of death as an accident.
Two days earlier, San Diego resident Martin Huber, 37, was struck by a northbound Nissan SUV while trying to run across Interstate 5 near Old Town about 1:30 a.m., the medical examiner reported. He died before paramedics could take him to a hospital.
A similar accident fatally injured a homeless woman last week. Kiah Schultz, 27, was hit by an eastbound Toyota sedan about 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 27 while crossing Friars Road on foot just east of state Route 163 in Mission Valley. An ambulance crew took Schultz to Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest, where she was pronounced dead.
On Feb. 12 in El Cajon, 75-year-old David Serna of La Mesa was struck by a northbound Volkswagen sedan while walking across the street on Johnson Avenue, the county agency reported.
Serna was admitted to Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, where his condition continued to decline prior to his death on Sunday.
