Auto Accidents Kill Pedestrian and Girl; 3 Hurt

Half an hour after a woman was fatally injured by a hit-and-run driver in downtown Ventura, a girl was killed and three others badly hurt in a second wreck a few miles away.

The first accident happened at 6:55 p.m. on eastbound Thompson Boulevard when a man driving a gray Ford Ranger pickup struck a woman as she crossed near Ash Street, said Ventura Police Sgt. Bob Velez.

The victim, 51-year-old Leslie Dawn Talley of Ventura, was taken to Ventura County Medical Center and was pronounced dead a short time later, Velez said.

The unidentified truck driver, who is wanted on suspicion of manslaughter, “was quite audacious,” Velez said. “Several witness said that after seeing the woman land on the hood of his truck, he shook the vehicle back and forth to throw her off.”

Skid marks led from the intersection to where Talley was hit, about 40 feet east. The victim’s athletic shoes lay on the double yellow line near the point of impact.

“I heard a loud crunch, and came running out and saw her on the ground,” said Rick Zepf, owner of a nearby flower shop. “It was gruesome.”

“She never moved, and never made a sound,” Zepf said.

Witnesses told police the truck driver continued east one block to South Kalorama Street, where he turned south. From there the truck made a left turn at Front Street and continued east back to Thompson Boulevard.

One witness chased him on foot but could not keep up, Velez said.

Velez said the truck had tinted windows. A sticker in the back window was emblazoned with the letters SKA, Velez said.

About 30 minutes later, at 7:27 p.m., a girl was killed when she was thrown from a Ford minivan on southbound California 33 south of Stanley Road.

California Highway Patrol Officer Jeremy Key said the male adult driver apparently lost control, drove onto the right shoulder and veered back into lanes, causing the van to roll several times and land upright.

In addition to the girl who died, two other children were passengers. All three surviving victims suffered severe head and possible internal injuries, authorities said. All were taken to Ventura County Medical Center.

Both sides of the freeway were shut while Ventura city firefighters cut the roof off the vehicle to remove the driver, said Fire Battalion Chief Kevin Rennie.

The northbound side was reopened about 7:50 p.m., but the southbound lanes were expected to remain closed at Stanley Avenue for several more hours for the CHP investigation.

The mangled wreckage of the van was facing north in the left southbound lane as a team of specially trained CHP officers investigated the crash.

Fifty feet north of the van, beneath a white blanket, lay the body of the child.

Neither she nor the others involved were identified.