Crashes Take Lives of 5, 7 Are Injured

Five people died in Antelope Valley traffic crashes Thursday, including four killed in a head-on collision authorities said was caused by a parolee speeding along Sierra Highway in a stolen Jeep Cherokee.

The Jeep, screaming northbound at 90 mph in Palmdale, rear-ended a pickup truck and then crossed the lane divider--slamming into a Lexus sport utility vehicle carrying a doctor and four of his co-workers.

Two women--a passenger in the Jeep and one in the Lexus--were pronounced dead at the scene. Two other people in the Lexus died later at local hospitals.

The drivers of both vehicles survived the grisly crash. The Jeep’s driver, identified as Shawn Eugene Beavers, 27, of Rosamond, was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center with both legs broken.

Beavers was driving a dark green 1993 Cherokee that had been reported stolen Sunday in Sherman Oaks, said Sgt. Ken Wright of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Beavers, who was on parole for burglary, has not been arrested, Wright said.

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Dr. John Fisher, a kidney specialist at Antelope Valley Hospital, was behind the wheel of the Lexus, according to Paul Allemeier, a vice president at the hospital. Fisher, 46, was taken there with minor injuries and was treated and released.

“He is very distraught,” said Allemeier. “He’s looking for, ‘How could I have avoided it?’ ”

The Los Angeles County coroner identified the victims in the Lexus as 52-year-old Mark Rittenberg and his wife, Mary, 41, both of Palmdale, and Georgina Schmidt, 43, of Lancaster. Fisher runs the Antelope Valley Dialysis Center, Allemeier said, and Wright said the passengers in the Lexus were his co-workers.

Another passenger in Fisher’s vehicle, 37-year-old Linda Mann, was in critical condition Thursday night at Lancaster Community Hospital, said nurse supervisor Sally Surette.

The woman passenger killed in the Jeep was not identified.

The accident occurred about 1:30 p.m. at Avenue O-8, the same spot on the four-lane highway where three others died in a head-on crash two years ago.

“It’s terrible,” said Wright. “I was out at the scene earlier and when I was going through a purse, looking for ID, there were all kinds of pictures of children and families. Then on the other side we’ve got a parolee, driving a stolen vehicle, who has ruined all these lives.”

No one in the pickup was hurt, he said. Wright said an off-duty sheriff’s deputy driving nearby witnessed the crash. Sheriff’s deputies are investigating the accident.

Earlier in the day in a separate incident in Quartz Hill, a Lake Hughes man was killed when he drove through a red light and slammed into a bus, injuring five others, authorities said.

Ron Wesseler, 43, died about 7:55 a.m. at the junction of 50th Street West and L-8 Street, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Mike Brown.

Wesseler was driving south on L-8 Street in a Ford pickup truck when he skipped the light, California Highway Patrol spokesman Scott Weldy said.

“We do not know how fast the truck was going. There are no brake marks,” Weldy said. “We just know he ran off a red light.”

The bus driver lost control and it jumped over a curve, striking a pedestrian. The bus skidded to a halt in a vacant lot, injuring passengers Gloria Castillo, 55, and her 22-year-old daughter Antionette, Weldy said. The mother was listed in stable condition at Northridge Hospital Medical Center and the daughter was treated and released, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

The pedestrian, Ronald Juvinall, 44, of Lancaster, suffered broken ribs and ankles, authorities said. Juvinall was taken to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, where he was listed in serious condition.

Two other victims--the bus driver and a man who was thrown from the bus--also suffered minor injuries in the crash.