5 People Killed in Separate Road Accidents : Carnage: Deaths set single-day record on city’s streets; fatality rate running 58% ahead of 1990.

A gruesome record was set in San Diego Wednesday when five people were killed in separate traffic accidents, including a mother of three and a teen-age girl in the back of a stolen truck.

Combined with two other fatalities the day before, the carnage brought to seven the number of people killed in traffic accidents in the span of a day and a half throughout the county.

“It’s just a freak thing,” said Sgt. Michael Healey, a traffic investigator for the San Diego Police Department. “It’s just not a good day to be driving.”

The previous record for traffic fatalities in a single day in the city of San Diego was three, he said.

Wednesday’s deaths added to an ominous trend: The number of people killed on city streets is running 58% ahead of last year’s rate.

The string of tragedies began shortly after midnight Wednesday when Maria Thompson, 30, suffered fatal injuries in Logan Heights.

Thompson, a La Mesa resident, was removing something from the trunk of her parked car in the 2800 block of Ocean View Boulevard when she was struck by an eastbound car that swerved into her, said Bill Robinson, a spokesman for the San Diego Police Department.

Thompson, who was in Logan Heights visiting a friend when the accident occurred, was taken to UC San Diego Medical Center, where she died of internal and head injuries.

The driver of the car that hit Thompson, Juan Carrillo, 28, of San Diego, was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, child endangerment and drunk driving.

Two unidentified passengers in Carrillo’s car, a woman and an 11-year-old boy, were taken to Sharp Memorial Hospital, where the child was listed in serious condition with head injuries. The woman’s condition was not available.

The second fatal accident occurred just after 4 a.m. when a van driven by Regina B. Watkins, 40, collided with a tractor-trailer rig on Miramar Road near Miramar Naval Air Station.

Watkins, a Mira Mesa resident and the mother of three children, was pronounced dead at the scene. She was driving home from work when the accident occurred, according to the coroner’s office.

Watkins was westbound on Miramar Road near Padgett Street when she collided with the 18-wheel rig as it turned east onto Miramar Road, Robinson said.

The truck driver, Richard Lagace, 37, of Victorville, was not injured.

About half an hour later, a man authorities believe was an illegal immigrant from Mexico was killed as he attempted to cross the 6100 block of Otay Mesa Road near Heritage Road, police said.

Jesus Lara Camarena, 49, was pronounced dead at the scene after he was struck. The driver of the car was not cited.

The day’s fourth fatal accident claimed the life of a teen-age girl riding in the back of a small truck that had been reported stolen, Healey said.

The victim and two other teen-age girls were headed north at about 70 m.p.h. in the 2900 block of Genesee Avenue in Linda Vista about 9:45 a.m. when they struck a curb and veered into a canyon.

The truck struck a tree and flipped end over end.

“They flipped from front bumper to rear bumper to front to rear again,” Healey said. “It cart-wheeled.”

Healey said the driver of the truck and the other passenger were treated for at a hospital for minor injuries.

The girl in the back, Mary Susan Martinez, 16, of Linda Vista, was killed. She was a student at the Twain Junior-Senior High School, a continuation school in Kearny Mesa.

The fifth fatal accident occurred at 9:30 a.m. when Catherine Laver, 74, was fatally injured when she was struck by a San Diego Water Utilities Department truck as she crossed a street two blocks from her Oak Park home, said John Armenariz of the coroner’s office.

The accident occurred at 54th and Redwood streets. Laver died at Mercy Hospital at 10 a.m., Armenariz said.

Wednesday’s deaths were preceded by two other traffic fatalities elsewhere in the county Tuesday.

Maria P. Baluyot, 64, was killed in Chula Vista when she ran into the path of a vehicle while apparently trying to cross a street.

Witnesses told police that Baluyot, a Tierrasanta resident, stepped from a bus and darted into oncoming traffic on Palomar Street, about 50-yards east of a crosswalk at 2nd Avenue.

Baluyot was taken to the UC San Diego Medical Center, where she died less than two hours after the 7 a.m. accident, said Officer Dennis Dodge of the Chula Vista Police Department.

Baluyot’s death was followed by the death of a Lakeside man who was apparently on his way to receive an award for his rodeo performances.

William Reeder, 59, of Lakeside, was killed in a head-on collision on Wildcat Canyon Road in Lakeside, said Officer Rocky Rockwell of the California Highway Patrol.

Reeder, a retired carpenter, was headed south on Wildcat Canyon Road, 2 miles north of Old Barona Road, when a pickup truck headed in the opposite direction swerved into his lane.

Reeder was pinned in his automobile and died at the scene of internal and head injuries.

The driver of the pickup, Michael Claiborne, 23, of Lakeside, was arrested on suspicion of felony drunk driving and vehicular manslaughter. He was flown by Life Flight helicopter to Sharp Memorial Hospital, where he was treated for cuts and bruises. He was listed in fair condition Wednesday afternoon.