Boy Killed When He and Brother Dash Across Freeway

Two Rancho Bernardo brothers went outside to play Tuesday night, but their game ended in tragedy--on Interstate 15.

Seven-year-old Nathaniel Bennett was struck by three cars and killed about 9:45 p.m. as he tried to keep up with his 12-year-old brother, Alan, in a mad dash for the center divider, CHP officials said.

“They just climbed over the fence,” said Gerald Bennett, the boys’ stepfather. “They were just playing around out there.”

It was the first time the boys had ever tried to cross the freeway, Bennett said.

CHP spokesman Mark Gregg said Alan dashed across southbound lanes to the center divider, about half a mile north of Rancho Bernardo Road. Nathaniel followed, about 15 feet behind him. He didn’t make it.

The boy was struck by a car driven by 21-year-old Derek Reed of San Diego, and then by two more cars.

One witness said she saw Alan run back and shine a flashlight on his brother’s body before running back to the divider, Gregg said.

Bennett, 36, who remodels houses and has lived in San Diego for six years, said his wife, Mary, and her four children--Alan, Nathaniel, a 10-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son--moved to San Diego a year ago from Montana.

Nathaniel would have entered the second grade next week, a school official said.

Alan, 12, goes to middle school.

“He’s feeling as well as I guess you can anticipate for anyone in his situation,” his stepfather said.

The boy’s death saddened neighbors at the 368-unit Las Casitas Apartments, and co-workers of the boy’s mother have started a collection for the family.

The CHP’s Gregg said no charges have been filed in connection with the death.

“It was strictly the boys’ route; they were where they shouldn’t have been,” he said. “The traffic could not avoid them at the time.”