Drunk Driver Killed a Day After Citation for Seat-Belt Violation

A drunk driver who died after he was thrown from his pickup truck in a freeway crash early Thursday had been issued a ticket the night before for not wearing a seat belt, the California Highway Patrol reported.

Mark Joseph Jackson, 20, of Saugus was found pinned between the truck and a concrete overpass after the 1:15 a.m. accident on the northbound Antelope Valley Freeway at Placerita Canyon Road, CHP Sgt. Andrew Kugl said.

“Had he had the seat belt on, he probably would not have been ejected,” Kugl said.

About 26 hours earlier, CHP Officer Vicki Ogden had written Jackson a ticket for not wearing a seat belt, Kugl said.

The CHP did not disclose how investigators determined that Jackson was intoxicated. According to the Department of Motor Vehicles, Jackson had no drunk-driving convictions.

The accident happened as Jackson’s gold 1986 Mazda pickup truck drifted from the far left freeway lane into the center divider and bounced off a guardrail before striking a concrete wall alongside the overpass, Kugl said.

A passenger in the truck, Glen Sanchez, 19, of Canyon Country, was in serious condition in the intensive-care unit of Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Sanchez also was not wearing a seat belt, the CHP reported.

Jackson was pronounced dead at the scene. The seat-belt ticket, which had been issued while Jackson was driving south on the San Diego Freeway at Wilshire Boulevard, was found in the truck, Kugl said.