6 Killed in Crashes Over Long Weekend

Two men were killed in separate crashes Sunday, bringing to six the number of fatalities on Ventura County roads during the four-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Shortly before 5 p.m., a man lost control of his car and slammed into a guardrail on Potrero Road near Lake Sherwood Drive in Thousand Oaks, authorities said. He was ejected from his car and died at the scene.

An hour earlier, a motorcyclist died after crashing on California 150, just west of Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, authorities said.

Authorities withheld the victims’ names, pending notification of their families.

Another of the weekend’s crashes occurred on California 150, a scenic mountain road that connects Ojai and Santa Paula, the California Highway Patrol said.

Saturday afternoon, Donna Popular, 51, died at Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura after her van crashed several hours earlier on a section of the highway east of Ojai.

Popular, a nurse from Ojai, struck a tree while driving home from her shift at Santa Paula Memorial Hospital’s emergency room, said CHP Sgt. Doug Howell.

She was not wearing a seat belt and suffered massive internal injuries, he said.

The four-day stretch was one of the deadliest in recent years, authorities said. Three other fatal crashes and dozens of less serious ones occurred Saturday during a rainstorm that hammered the county. It was sunny and cool Sunday. The National Weather Service in Oxnard was calling for partly cloudy days and cold nights through Friday.

Authorities on Sunday identified the man whose car collided with a motor home on California 126, just east of Piru, about 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

Michael Feliscian Jr., 21, of Delano was ejected from his car and died a short time later at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Santa Clarita.

Excessive speed may have contributed to the crash, authorities said. Feliscian was not wearing a seat belt.

Jesse Gasaway, 74, of Ojai died early Saturday after suffering a heart attack while driving on California 33, north of Rose Valley Road in Ojai. The car plunged 40 feet off the road.

A farm worker killed Friday afternoon when an Amtrak train slammed into his tractor near Camarillo has been identified as Jesus Romero, 66, of Oxnard.

Between Thursday and Sunday more than three dozen drivers were arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, Howell said.

One of those cases involved a Thousand Oaks man who led authorities on a chase Saturday night across the San Fernando Valley to the Johnson Drive offramp in Ventura.

Fred Robles, 37, was taken into custody about 7:30 p.m. Saturday and booked into Ventura County Jail on suspicion of driving under the influence, felony hit-and-run and possession of narcotics paraphernalia, Howell said.

Robles’ bail was set at $50,000.

Times staff writer Holly J. Wolcott contributed to this report.