Man Crashes Car After Getting Speeding Ticket

A Fillmore man who minutes before had received a ticket for reportedly driving more than 100 mph on California 126 sustained major injuries when he lost control of his car, flew off the highway and crashed into a lemon tree, according to authorities.

Joe Magallon, a 50-year-old Fillmore resident, was driving eastbound around noon Monday when he failed to negotiate a curve near Atmore Road.

His car went airborne and into a citrus grove. Though badly injured, he was conscious when pulled from the car.

Magallon was airlifted to the emergency room at the Ventura County MedicalCenter, where he was in serious condition Monday night, a nursing supervisor said.

The accident happened about five minutes after Magallon received a speeding ticket. The ticket, which was issued a few miles west of the accident, was found in his

wallet.

California Highway Patrol Officer Dave Webb said the man should have beenfamiliar with the road because he was a local resident.

The CHP did not issue Magallon’s ticket, Webb said, but many of the citations it issues on that road are to out-of-town drivers, because residents know where officers hide out.

Clark Johnson, who lives behind the scene of the accident and was driving home as the man’scar was being hauled from the orchard, said the incident did not strike him as unusual because people speed all the time on that road.

“My 11-year-old son was the only one home at the time, and when he heard the impact he locked all the doors and brought the dog in,” he said.

“It must have sounded like a stick of dynamite going off.”

Johnson said when he looked at the ground there were no car tracks between the road and the tree.

“So he must have been in the air for 100 feet until he busted the lemon tree in half,” hesaid.