NEWPORT BEACH : Man Who Struck 2 Pedestrians Charged

The Orange County district attorney’s office on Tuesday filed a misdemeanor manslaughter charge against a motorist in connection with the deaths of two senior citizens who were fatally injured last week as they crossed a busy Costa Mesa intersection.

The driver, Francisco Jimenez, 25, of Costa Mesa was questioned and released by police the day of the accident and remains free.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Del Wright, who is handling the case, said that based on the evidence, “Jimenez was in violation of the law” when he failed to stop for the two senior citizens at the T-intersection at Meyer Place and West 19th Street.

Wright said he filed a misdemeanor involuntary vehicular manslaughter charge at Harbor Municipal Court and is waiting for a judge to issue a warrant for Jimenez’s arrest.

The accident occurred March 15 at about 6:20 a.m. as Fred B. Young and Patricia E. Crowell, both 78 and residents of the Bethel Towers retirement center, were returning home after breakfast at a McDonald’s Restaurant.

Jimenez, who was traveling east on West 19th Street on his way to work, failed to see the two pedestrians as he moved into the fast lane to pass a car that had stopped for them, Wright said. Young and Crowell were walking within a marked crosswalk.

Jimenez told police the sun had blinded him and he did not see the pedestrians. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Young, who in his youth had been a prizefighter and later a chef, was buried last Thursday. Crowell worked part time at Mother’s Market and Kitchen in Costa Mesa. She was buried last weekend, according to Bethel Towers officials.

The intersection at Meyer Place and 19th Street has been a troubled spot for pedestrians. In 1990, a woman was seriously injured by a car at the same intersection. The woman sued the city for $400,000. The case is pending.

Officials at Bethel Towers have for years been asking the city to place a traffic light at the intersection. City officials said they have slated the intersection for a traffic light in June.