2 Men Killed in High-Speed, Single-Car Accident North of El Rio

A high-speed, single-car accident claimed the lives of two men Tuesday evening on Rose Avenue a few miles north of El Rio.

No one saw what caused the accident, but California Highway Patrol officers at the scene speculated from skid marks and debris that the driver lost control about 7:30 p.m., drifted onto a dirt center divider, then swerved to the right shoulder and slammed into a tree stump along Rose Avenue south of California 118.

Ventura County Deputy Coroner Jim Wingate said he was withholding the names of the men until he could notify their relatives.

The impact sent the car flying “like a plane,” said Rafael Lira, a 42-year-old labor contractor who ran to the area after the accident to make sure that none of his work crew in a nearby orchard was injured.

Greg Mayr, 32, an Oxnard roofer who was on his way home from work, came upon the scene right afterward.

“The dirt and smoke were still settling,” he said.

He and the driver of another car ran to the twisted wreckage.

“We checked for pulse and didn’t find any on either of them,” Mayr said while watching firefighters use a hydraulic winch to pry open the passenger side of the car to get one of the men out.

Firefighters, paramedics and a CHP officer arrived within four minutes.

“Just the way the car hit, it didn’t even matter that they were wearing seat belts,” said Gold Coast paramedic Greg Petersen of Oxnard.

Petersen hooked up a heart monitor to the driver and found no pulse. The passenger was also dead, he said.

The car, a late model red Nissan coupe, was mangled almost beyond recognition.

CHP Officer Curt Rhyne said the car was headed east along Rose Avenue in excess of 80 mph. It passed several cars and then headed into a stretch of two-lane road that is divided by a gravel and dirt center. The road, which cuts through an orchard, is lined by tall eucalyptus trees.

From skid marks on the road, it appeared that the driver overcorrected after drifting into the center divider and swung his vehicle to the right and into a huge tree stump, Rhyne said. The impact uprooted the stump and folded the front end of the car before it was launched into the air, he said.

“It just looked like they were going too fast,” Rhyne said.