Pedestrians injured in truck accident
A Huntington Beach resident and her two children needed emergency
surgery on Tuesday after being hit by a pickup truck as they crossed
Slater Avenue.
An Le and her 18-month-old daughter were taken to Western Medical
Center with serious internal injuries, and her 10-year-old son was
taken to UCI Medical Center after the 5:20 p.m. accident, police Lt.
Ed Deuel said.
Le was pushing her daughter in a stroller while walking with her
son in or near the crosswalk at Geraldine Lane when a red Dodge
pickup struck all three, Deuel said. The driver of the truck, a
45-year-old Huntington Beach resident, stopped after the accident and
was cooperating with police, Deuel said. She wasn't arrested.
Huntington Beach Police ask that anyone who saw the accident call
investigator Tom Wood at (714) 536-5670.
Woman confesses to fatal hit-and-run
A Huntington Beach woman confessed to a hit-and-run at a Fountain
Valley intersection that killed a cyclist on Monday, police said.
Witnesses told officers they saw Huntington Beach resident
Jeanette McGoff, 43, get struck at 5:45 p.m. by a car that fled the
scene after the accident.
Kristen Stotts, 24, approached officers investigating the scene
about 40 minutes later and admitted that she'd hit McGoff, who was
riding in the bicycle lane, Fountain Valley Sgt. Kevin Thomas said.
McGoff was pronounced dead by emergency room staff at Huntington
Beach Hospital shortly after the accident. Police issued no citations
and made no arrests pending further investigation, Thomas said, but
Stotts' 2000 Honda Civic was impounded by officers as evidence.
The Fountain Valley Police Department Traffic Bureau asks that
witnesses to the accident, at Slater Avenue and Santa Maria Street,
call (714) 593-4481.
Police crack down on seat-belt violations
The Huntington Beach Police Department began using officers to
concentrate specifically on writing seat-belt tickets on Monday, and
will do so through Nov. 30 as part of a national enforcement
campaign.
Funding for overtime spent on staffing will be paid for by a
federal grant administered by the California Office of Traffic Safety
through the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency.
At 79%, the national safety-belt use rate is the highest it has
ever been, but there are still nearly 60 million Americans, mostly
teenagers and young adults, risking their lives by driving unbuckled,
Lt. Janet Perez said.
Fatality rates for teens are twice that of older drivers, and the
