San Diego

A 48-year-old Pacific Beach man was critically injured Tuesday when he was struck by a van as he tried to stop a thief from stealing it, police said. William Nothomb was listed in critical condition at Scripps Memorial Hospital with multiple rib fractures; a lung contusion; a broken pelvis, right wrist and left leg, and internal injuries, hospital officials said. Nothomb and his wife were asleep at 1:05 a.m. in their apartment on Garnet Avenue when Mrs. Nothomb heard a vehicle engine clicking, then saw someone taking her van. San Diego Police Sgt. Ernest Trumper said the Nothombs tried to stop the thief and, in the tumult, Nothomb was run over by the vehicle. The van has not been recovered, Trumper said.