Sheriff’s Deputy Hit While Aiding Injured Driver Is in Fair Condition

An off-duty Orange County Sheriff’s deputy, who was hit by a truck when he tried to help an injured motorist, was listed in fair condition Tuesday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Rodney Steven Valdez, 26, of Cypress was resting at UCI Medical Center in Orange with scrapes and cuts after the early Monday incident during which three other people were injured in a series of crashes.

The incident occurred when a Tustin Marine drove his 1989 Mustang off a 33-foot-high connector road at the Costa Mesa and San Diego freeways, authorities said.

His car ended up in the middle of the southbound Costa Mesa Freeway, where it was struck by a Volkswagen GTI.

After Valdez and another motorist, Steven Wilson, 23, of San Jose, stopped to help the Marine, who had flown into El Toro on Sunday after seven months in the Middle East, a truck slammed into the wreckage and hit them.

Wilson, who also suffered cuts and scrapes, was taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana. He was last reported in stable condition.

Authorities declined to release the condition of the Marine, Jeffrey Scott Oakley, 23, of Cypress. Oakley, who is a crew chief of a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter, was last listed in fair condition.

The driver of the Volkswagen, Wayne S. Black, 20, of Costa Mesa, suffered a nosebleed.

Mark Edwin Murphy, 33, of Orange, the driver of the truck, was unhurt.

After the crashes, CHP officers arrested Murphy on suspicion of felony drunk driving and Oakley on suspicion of misdemeanor drunk driving.