Suit Filed by Kin of 2 Pedestrians Struck, Killed

The children of two elderly people who were struck and killed as they crossed a street filed a lawsuit Thursday against the city and the driver, the second such suit pertaining to that intersection.

Fred B. Young and Patricia E. Crowell, both 78, were walking home after having breakfast at a fast-food restaurant on March 15 when they were struck by a pickup driven by Francisco Jimenez, 25, of Costa Mesa at West 19th Street and Meyer Place, police said.

Jimenez had been on his way to work, traveling east on West 19th Street when he struck the two pedestrians. The sun was in his eyes and he didn’t see the couple, Jimenez told police at the time of the accident.

The plaintiffs contended that a lack of a traffic signal, which was planned for the intersection at the time but had not been installed, was partly to blame for the accident. About three months later, city employees installed a $98,000 signal at the same intersection.

Other dangerous conditions listed in the lawsuit, which was filed with the state’s Superior Court, included inadequate signs and bad design and markings of the crosswalks.

The lawsuit filed by Crowell’s child and Young’s five children is the second against the city involving the intersection at West 19th Street and Meyer Place, also the site of a 1990 accident in which a 25-year-old woman was hit by a car and seriously injured.