Student Athlete Fatally Struck by Car While Jogging

A 14-year-old member of the Camarillo High School cross-country team died early Wednesday after being struck by a car as she jogged along Santa Rosa Road with her father..

Jennifer Lynn Bonds, a freshman member of the varsity team, was pronounced dead at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks from massive head injuries.

She had been struck about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday by a 1986 Ford Thunderbird as she jogged just ahead of her father along a westbound stretch of Santa Rosa Road west of Yucca Road between Camarillo and Moorpark.

“I’m devastated. She was my life,” said Paul Bonds, who lives with his wife and other children just off Santa Rosa Road near Camarillo. “She turned one foot and this guy comes by. I was right behind her. He should have taken me.”

The driver of the car, 59-year-old Pedro Valenzuela of Oxnard, was questioned at the scene but was not cited, said Officer Steven Reid of the California Highway Patrol.

Reid said the accident occurred in a section of road where the speed limit is 55 mph. Valenzuela was going no faster than 40 mph at the time, he said.

“It wasn’t like she darted out in the lane to where the car was,” Reid said. “[But] the speed of the vehicle involved was not an issue.”

Paul Bonds said he and Jennifer had just started their regular 9-mile jog, which they had done at least three times a week while she recovered from a stress fracture to her foot.

Bonds said he and other Santa Rosa Valley residents plan to ask the Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to stem increasing traffic on the two-lane county road.

Bonds said that on two occasions he has stood at Moorpark and Santa Rosa roads at rush hour and counted the number of people in each vehicle. He said 96% of the 500 drivers he counted each time were alone.

He has also seen numerous cars race through the otherwise quiet valley. Other family members have had close calls, he said.

“They are all too worried about putting asphalt down to come up with alternative methods like ride sharing or car-pooling,” Bonds said. “People don’t realize they are driving a weapon. I moved out here 20 years ago to avoid this.”