Northridge Man Dies After Traffic Collision
A Northridge man riding with his 17-year-old daughter was fatally injured in Chatsworth when she turned left into oncoming traffic, police said.
William Bathke, 54, died Wednesday at West Valley Hospital about an hour after the 5:20 p.m. accident on Topanga Canyon Boulevard, just north of Plummer Street. His daughter, Jean, who was driving with a learner’s permit, told police her father had told her to go ahead and start inching her way into the turn, said Detective Henson Dial.
The daughter was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where she was treated and released, Dial said.
Marcus Heinbaugh Jr., 34, of Sylmar, the driver of the pickup truck she collided with, was examined at the scene and released.
No one was cited, Dial said.
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