Capistrano Beach : Man Dies After Crash on Freeway Interchange

A 28-year-old man was fatally injured when he lost control of his car on a Capistrano Beach freeway interchange and crashed into a bridge pillar, California Highway Patrol officers said Tuesday.

A motorcyclist probably saved his own life by deliberately laying down his Honda and skidding 600 feet to avoid colliding with the car, CHP Officer Ken Daily said.

Thomas Gerald Brohard of Dana Point was driving a new Volkswagen sedan north on the San Diego Freeway about 9:30 p.m. Monday when he entered a connector road to California 1 at a high rate of speed and lost control of his car on a curve, Daily said.

Brohard crossed in front of a motorcycle ridden by Andrew Knoblock Simler, 27, of Dana Point, who then laid the cycle down on its side and began skidding, Daily said. The car hit a guardrail, veered back across both lanes of traffic and smashed into the bridge pillar. Simler rode the motorcycle on its side 600 feet before it came to rest--about two feet from the crashed car, Daily said.

Both men were taken to Mission Community Hospital in Mission Viejo, where Brohard was declared dead a short time later. Simler, who had been wearing a helmet, was listed in “moderately good condition” with a fractured ankle and abrasions, Daily said.