The Region - News from Dec. 16, 1985

An unidentified jogger was struck by a passing automobile and thrown into the Santa Ana River on Sunday, launching a search through a 12-foot-deep stretch of a river that in most places is barely a trickle. Investigators from the California Highway Patrol and six other police and fire agencies had little more than a watch, a key chain and a woman’s shoe for clues as divers searched through the murky water below the Kraemer Boulevard bridge. The search will resume today. Joseph Montealegre, 25, of Cerritos, said he and his wife, Rosanna, were riding with their two small children when he saw the jogger ahead. After the accident, an unidentified motorist immediately dove off into the water after the jogger and Montealegre also waded in, but they gave up the search after the body disappeared below the surface. CHP traffic officer S.M. Coutts said Montealegre, who was apparently driving about 35 m.p.h. at the time of the accident, would not be cited.