Traffic Accidents Kill 28 With One Day Left of Holiday Weekend

Holiday traffic had claimed at least 28 lives in California by late Sunday, including four people in a pickup truck killed near Fresno when the allegedly drunk driver ran a stop sign and was hit by an oncoming car, authorities said.

The truck driver, Humberto Beltran, 34, survived the 1 a.m. collision in an unincorporated part of western Fresno County, but four of his passengers were killed, including two women and a man, all in their 20s, and a girl about 8 years old, California Highway Patrol Supervisor Barbara Brown said.

CHP spokesman Sam Haynes said the Fresno County accident was the only crash since the holiday weekend began that caused multiple deaths.

At least 27 people died in traffic accidents from 6 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Sunday, equaling last year’s toll during the same period.

One more death was reported Sunday afternoon. The Fresno area had the most deaths, with eight.

In 1989, 57 people died during the Memorial Day weekend, six of them in Los Angeles County.

In Los Angeles and Orange counties at least nine people died in traffic accidents, despite stepped-up patrols and police checkpoints to catch drivers who drink.

One suspected drunk driver was behind the wheel of a 35-foot fishing boat, the George D, that sideswiped an 83-foot lobster boat and a dock in the main channel of the Los Angeles Harbor about 5 p.m. Saturday, Los Angeles Port Police Officer Ken Huerta said.

No one was injured, but the boater kept going and was chased by authorities, who arrested him as he headed for his boat’s berth. George Morse, 52, of Lomita was booked on suspicion of drunk driving in a boat. Authorities said they would also seek a charge of hit-and-run driving against him.

Port police and the Coast Guard said Morse had a blood alcohol level of .23, nearly three times the legal limit of .08.