Investigators in Fatal I-5 Pileup to Check for Cocaine : White Powder, Scale Found in Trucker’s Cab

The truck driver who rammed a van and caused a pileup near San Clemente that killed two and injured 23 was driving with a suspended license and had a substance suspected of being cocaine in his rig, authorities said Friday.

Also Friday, one of the injured died of a heart attack. Jof Richares, 48, of the Netherlands was about to be released from Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center after being treated for minor injuries when he was stricken. Authorities said it was not clear whether his death could be attributed to the accident.

Investigators found a “white powdery substance” in “one bindle, one baggie and one plastic vial” after the 6:45 p.m. Thursday crash on northbound Interstate 5 just south of the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint.

‘Could Have Been Worse’

“If it is indeed cocaine, it would be considered a very sizable quantity,” Highway Patrol Officer Jerry Bohrer said. Laboratory tests are pending.

Truck driver Neil Adams, 33, of the Santa Clara County town of Campbell, was held at the San Diego County branch jail in Vista on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, felony drunk driving and possession of cocaine. His driving record shows eight motor vehicle citations since 1983.

“It was miraculous that nobody else was hit or killed,” Bohrer said Friday. “It could have been so much worse.”

The three who died and 19 of those injured were Dutch citizens who were part of a group that included singers and musicians staying at a Buena Park motel. They had arrived in Los Angeles Tuesday for two weeks of sightseeing and performing.

The group, some of whom had been stars in the 1950s and ‘60s in the Netherlands, were booked for a performance Sunday at the Gateway Plaza Holiday Inn in La Mirada and for one in Inglewood Oct. 4. They were to fly back to the Netherlands Oct. 6. The shows were canceled Friday.

Wonny Wooft, 28, and Wiem Jansan, in his late 20s, were killed when Adams’ truck struck their van. Both were sitting in the back seats and both suffered broken necks, Bohrer said.

Richares, 48, of the Dutch city of Beets, had been one of the organizers of the tour.

The others suffered injuries ranging from minor scratches to broken bones and internal bleeding.

‘Big Explosion’

Authorities said Adams was driving about 55 m.p.h. when he swerved left from the slow lane, slamming into the van, which had slowed to about 25 m.p.h. as it approached the Border Patrol checkpoint. The crash set off a chain reaction that involved three other vans.

Bert von Unen, a songwriter from Amsterdam and a passenger in one of the vans, said it was like a “big explosion.”

A Dutch singer who gave his name as as Schallies R. was driving the van hit by Adams’ rig. He said: “I didn’t see the truck. It crashed and pushed (us) over to the side.”

George and Helen Halbmann were returning to their home in Mission Viejo after spending the day visiting their children in Encinitas when they were struck from behind by one of the tourists’ vans. Helen Halbmann, 65, said she remembers hearing a loud crash “and then my husband was helping me out of the back of the van. I felt sick to my stomach, my shoes were knocked off, my clothes were halfway pulled off my body.”

Helen Halbmann suffered a concussion and has bruises “over most of my body.” She was treated at Tri-City Hospital in Oceanside and released.

Adams reportedly was returning from a San Diego Navy base, where he had delivered a load of freight. He told authorities at the scene Thursday evening that he had not seen the van when he tried to change lanes, Bohrer said.

Adams was arrested after officers smelled alcohol on his breath. “When we asked him if he had been drinking,” Bohrer said, “he told us he had a few beers.”

Officers also found a “little compact personal scale” inside Adams’ truck, Bohrer said.

Bohrer said that, although it was overcast and near dusk at the time of the crash, visibility was “very good. . . . You could see a long, long way.”

“The lights were all operational and traffic was flowing, not stopped,” he said.

Eight Citations

According to the Department of Motor Vehicles, Adams had been cited eight times since 1983 for violations including driving at an unsafe speed for a “truck combination,” which is what he was driving Thursday. He was last cited May 9, 1987, for failing to have a vehicle registration. Because that citation was never resolved, Adams’ driver’s license was suspended Aug. 15, according to CHP records.

On Aug. 23, 1985, according to the CHP, Adams struck a passenger car in Diamond Bar, forcing it into another car. A CHP spokesman said that accident was caused by Adams’ inattention.

A spokesman for Adams’ employer, Rod’s Trucking Co. of South Gate, said Friday that the company would have no comment on the accident.

Adams’ bail was set at $10,000. He is to be arraigned Monday in Vista Municipal Court east of Oceanside.

After the accident, northbound traffic at one point was backed up 8 to 10 miles as emergency personnel and authorities rushed to the scene.

At the Border Patrol checkpoint, drivers delayed by the accident lined up at a pay telephone to call worried relatives. Some had been delayed more than two hours after the CHP closed the freeway at the checkpoint and routed traffic through Camp Pendleton.

Times staff writers Bob Schwartz, Richard Beene, Mariann Hansen and Martha Steffens contributed to this report.

Two people were killed and 22 injured Thursday evening in a five-vehicle crash on northbound Interstate 5, about three-quarters of a mile south of the San Clemente immigration checkpoint. One of the injured died Friday

1. Two people were killed and 22 injured Thursday evening in a five-vehicle crash on northbound Interstate 5, about three-quarters of a mile south of the San Clemente immigration checkpoint. One of the injured died Friday.

2. Instead of braking, Adams changed lanes, striking the rear of a van carrying 10 Dutch nationals killing two of them.

3. The impact ropelled the van into another van,, carrying 12 more Dutch nationals.

4. The first van that was struck spun onto brush alongside the freeway, while the second van struck a third van, carrying a Mission Viejo couple, and then careened across two more lanes into the freeway center divider.

5. The third van struck another van, carrying a couple and their daughter.