Latest Pedestrian to Die at Checkpoint Near Oceanside Was Legal U.S. Resident

A 51-year-old Mexican man was struck by a car and killed early Thursday as he attempted to cross Interstate 5 on foot north of Oceanside, authorities said.

However, unlike the many other pedestrians who are regularly run down in the area, the victim--identified as Maximiliano Aguirre Castellanos--was a legal U.S. resident, authorities said. A residence document from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service was found on his person, said Charles Bolton, a deputy coroner in the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office.

Nonetheless, Capt. Ron Phulps of the California Highway Patrol in Oceanside said that Aguirre’s death would be included in the expanding roster of accidents linked to the checkpoint, meaning that Aguirre is the 13th pedestrian to be killed this year in such incidents. “We have to assume it’s checkpoint-related,” Phulps said.

Aguirre was struck at 7:10 a.m. by a southbound car driven by Jesus Salazar of Whittier. The driver was uninjured and no charges were filed against him, authorities said, as he had no opportunity to avoid the accident.

Aguirre, who was alone when he was struck, was attempting to cross the freeway from west to east, authorities said. Why he was attempting the hazardous crossing remains unknown, officials said. The California Highway Patrol is investigating.

The victim was struck near the Aliso Creek Rest Area, just south of an 8-mile-long recently designated “pedestrian accident zone,” which stretches along I-5 in Camp Pendleton from the area north of Las Pulgas Road to the area just south of the Orange County line.

The freeway along that stretch is regularly traversed by illegal immigrants attempting to evade inspection at the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint, just across the freeway from San Onofre State Beach. Many use beach trails to hike around the checkpoint, which generally requires two crossings of eight lanes of high-speed traffic.

While the pedestrian problem has existed for some time, authorities say the number of people being hit has risen dramatically in recent years, prompting calls for extra safety measures.

In response, the California Department of Transportation has begun a series of steps, including a public information campaign and the posting of signs alerting motorists and pedestrians to the hazard. Other measures are being considered, including the erection of high barriers in the freeway medians.

Including Thurday’s incident, California Highway Patrol officials say that 21 pedestrians have been struck by vehicles since January as they crossed I-5 near the San Onofre checkpoint while attempting to evade immigration inspectors. Thirteen of that number died. (All were killed in San Diego County except for one who was struck and killed June 12 along I-5 in San Clemente, Orange County, said Phulps.)

The 21 victims surpass the 19 pedestrians struck during all of 1989, when there were a record 14 fatalities, Phulps said. In 1988, 12 pedestrians were struck and five died; in 1987, 10 were struck and five died, according to CHP figures.

The reason for the rise in such accidents remains unclear. Border Patrol officials say they have heightened enforcement efforts at the checkpoint during 1990, but authorities believe that that alone would not account for the difference. One factor, authorities say, might be the increased numbers of illegal immigrants who are entering the United States via the U.S.-Mexico border in the San Diego area.

While almost all the freeway victims are believed to have been undocumented immigrants, authorities say that legal U.S. residents are also occasionally struck. Legal residents occasionally travel with groups of undocumented people, sometimes assisting them or acting as guides and smugglers, authorities say.

In the case of Aguirre, authorities said that ignition keys were found on his person, prompting speculation that his vehicle might have broken down and he might have been crossing the freeway in search of assistance or a ride. However, no vehicle was found in the nearby rest areas or along the roadway matching the keys, said deputy Bolton of the medical examiner’s office.

Aguirre’s place of residence and occupation are unknown, the coroner’s deputy said, although papers found on his body indicated that he might have had family in the Los Angeles area. He was dead at the scene, a spot just south of the Aliso Creek Rest Area on the freeway’s southbound lanes.

Times staff writer John D. Cramer contributed to this report.