Car Kills 1 as It Hits Camp of Homeless

A car crashed into a group of sleeping transients in San Diego early Wednesday, killing one and injuring two others.

James Edward Gillam, 42, was killed shortly before 1:30 a.m. when a car veered off an on-ramp between California 94 and Interstate 5 and plowed through a campsite below, said California Highway Patrol officials. Gillam is survived by a family in Lemon Grove, according to the coroner’s office.

The driver of the car, Catherine Hardie, 28, of San Diego was later arrested on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence of alcohol and being under the influence of methamphetamines, said CHP dispatcher Doris Davidson. Hardie suffered a broken collarbone and is under guard at Mercy Hospital, a spokeswoman there said. She was listed in fair condition.

Hardie’s car rammed through ice plant adjoining the on-ramp, falling 70 feet into the makeshift campsite, said CHP officer Ray Ramirez. The car flipped over and skidded through the camp, dragging Gillam and another man, David Hendry, 42, until the car came to a stop on a ramp from I-5 to Pershing Drive.

Hendry was taken to UCSD Medical Center, where he is listed in fair condition with multiple internal injuries, said hospital spokeswoman Sheri Smith. A third transient, W. J. Davis, 54, is in good condition at Mercy Hospital with a broken leg, a hospital spokeswoman said.

An increasing number of transients are sleeping in shrubbery on islands alongside highways because they provide a measure of shelter and isolation, said Steve Saville, a Caltrans spokesman.

“They can disappear there and almost form their own community,” Saville said, predicting that there will be more similar accidents.

Caltrans is trimming back vegetation near some downtown highways to make the areas less attractive to transients, Saville said.