4 Die in Separate Traffic Accidents

Four people, including a 4-year-old girl, were killed and several other persons injured Sunday in San Diego County traffic accidents.

The child’s mother, Charlayne Mason, 28, of Escondido, suffered major injuries after she and daughter, Brandee Jaynes, were thrown from their car on Interstate 15 near Deer Springs Road in Escondido, authorities said.

The accident at about 1:45 p.m. happened when Mason attempted to change lanes, according to California Highway spokeswoman Patrol Karen Evans.

Mason’s car started to “fish-tail and then it overturned and went down an embankment,” Evans said.

Mother and daughter were thrown from the car, Evans said, and the car rolled over the daughter. Neither was wearing a seat belt, Evans added.

The child was pronounced dead at Children’s Hospital at 5:15 p.m. Her mother was still in surgery late Sunday, a spokeswoman for Palomar Hospital said.

In another accident, a driver who told police he was checking the time on his wristwatch and failed to notice a red light, struck another car in Rancho Penasquitos, killing that car’s driver and injuring two passengers.

The accident at the corner of Black Mountain and Carmel Mountain roads happened at 4:46 p.m. Leo Hashiguchi, 68, died later at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, San Diego police Sgt. Richmond Kelly said.

Hashiguchi’s passengers, whose names were not released, were in fair condition Sunday night at Sharp Memorial Hospital.

The name of the driver who struck the other car has not been released.

Near Jacumba, one person was killed and another injured when a truck overturned at about 3:15 p.m. Sunday on eastbound Interstate 8, CHP spokeswoman Evans said.

Killed was Gene Anthony Trudo, 41, address unknown, George Dickason, a San Diego County medical examiner’s investigator, said.

There was no word late Sunday on the condition, or name, of Trudo’s passenger.

A San Diego man was killed early Sunday when he was thrown from his pickup truck on California 52 near University City, authorities said.

Craig Richard Straugh, 30, was eastbound near Genesee Avenue at about 1:28 a.m. when his truck, estimated to be traveling 90 m.p.h., hit the median divider and rolled down an embankment, CHP officials said.

Straugh, who was not wearing a seat belt, died of “multiple traumatic injuries,” a CHP spokeswoman said.