Man Fleeing Deputies Dies in I-5 Traffic

An unidentified man was killed Wednesday evening when he was hit by at least one car as he ran across Interstate 5 in an attempt to elude sheriff’s deputies, who wanted to talk to him about a disturbance at an Encinitas residence.

Details of the incident were sketchy, but a Sheriff’s Department dispatcher said the accident occurred about 6:45 p.m. on northbound I-5 at the Lomas Santa Fe off-ramp.

According to the dispatcher, deputies called to a residence in Encinitas to investigate a disturbance found a man sitting inside a parked car. He ignored orders to get out of the vehicle and attempted to run over the deputies, the dispatcher said. The man then drove away and headed north on I-5, with the deputies in pursuit.

The man pulled over on the center divider near the Lomas Santa Fe exit and bolted from the car, toward the freeway lanes, the dispatcher said. He was hit by at least one car and apparently died at the scene.

The dispatcher said the body was still in a freeway lane about 8:30 p.m. as deputies investigated.

The freeway was not closed. California Highway Patrol officers ran a traffic break to slow northbound cars, and directed them around the body.