Man, 74, Dies After Car Hits 2nd Vehicle
A 74-year-old man died hours after his car swerved and collided with another vehicle at an intersection here, authorities said.
Noboru Kawata of Laguna Niguel was southbound on Street of the Golden Lantern about 2:20 p.m. Tuesday when he lost control of his Toyota pickup truck, hit the center divider and skidded through the intersection of Marina Hills Drive, said Lt. Richard J. Olson, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
He struck a Mercedes head-on that was stopped in the left-turn pocket of northbound Golden Lantern and pushed it into the front end of a Chevrolet pickup truck, which was towing a utility trailer, officials said.
Although the road was wet, police don’t know yet what caused Kawata to swerve.
The occupants of the Chevrolet were uninjured. The driver of the Mercedes suffered a cut over his left eye and his teen-age son complained of chest pains, Olson said.
The Toyota and the Mercedes were demolished, authorities said.
Kawata was taken to the Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, where he died about 9:50 p.m., Olson said.
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