Two pedestrians die in separate SR-79 incidents

A 59-year-old man was killed on state Route 79 north of Warner Springs, and a Warner Springs man was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence in the deadly crash, police said Thursday.

The fatality occurred about 7:15 p.m. Wednesday on southbound SR-79 approaching Chihuahua Valley Road in Warner Springs east of Palomar Mountain near the county’s northern border with Riverside County, California Highway Patrol Officer Travis Garrow said.

The pedestrian, whose name was not released, was walking on or near the white painted line marking the right edge of the road when a Ford F-250 approached.

The pickup truck, driven by Jeffrey Scott Littrell, 48, went around a “sweeping right hand curve, and for reasons still under investigation, his vehicle struck the pedestrian,” Garrow said. “The pedestrian was thrown onto the west dirt shoulder where he succumbed to his injuries.”

Littrell pulled over and awaited the arrival of emergency responders, Garrow said. CHP officers later determined he was under the influence of alcohol and arrested him on suspicion of felony DUI and vehicular manslaughter.

Jail records showed Littrell was being held in the San Diego County Jail Thursday on $100,000 bail, and he was tentatively scheduled to be arraigned Friday in an El Cajon courtroom.

About 45 minutes after the deadly incident near Warner Springs, a second pedestrian was fatally wounded in a hit-and-run crash on the same desert and mountain highway about 25 miles to the south near Santa Ysabel. That remains under investigation.