Cops and Courts

Three men died and three others were hurt Saturday morning in a fiery wreck on Highway 129, about four miles east of Watsonville.

The 8:30 a.m. collision left the highway closed for nearly five hours while fire crews put out the blaze, the California Highway Patrol said. The Coroner’s Office removed the men’s charred bodies but could not immediately determine their identities. The cause is under investigation, but the CHP said speed was a likely factor.

The gruesome crash happened just east of Murphy Crossing when a speeding pickup truck pitched left into oncoming traffic and was T-boned by a flatbed truck. The three men in the cab of the Ford flatbed managed to get out before the trucks exploded into flames, but the trio in the white 1968 GMC pickup did not escape.

“It was pretty horrific,” said farmer Charlie Michels, who brought a work crew to a field adjacent to the crash just after the two trucks collided. People from miles around reported seeing black smoke billowing from the site.

A motorist driving behind the pickup told CHP officers that the pickup was traveling about 65 mph —  the speed limit on that stretch of road is 55 mph — when it suddenly lost control and veered into oncoming traffic.

Skid marks on the highway show the pickup driver apparently tried to stop, but his brakes were useless once the vehicle went sideways, CHP officer Fred Smith said.

The driver of the flatbed “tried to slow down and move to the right, but there was not time,” Smith said. “Basically, they came just right in front of them and they had no where to go.”

The flatbed hit the passenger side of the pickup, shearing off its bed and pushing the cab and chassis back about 40 feet.

“Right after the accident, there was a huge explosion [and] a fire,” Smith said.

The men in the flatbed suffered minor injuries but were able to escape before flames engulfed the wreckage. Smith said the men in the pickup truck apparently were unable to free themselves.

“The witnesses said they weren’t moving or screaming,” he said. “They were at least unconscious or possibly deceased.”

Firefighters arrived within 10 minutes and extinguished the blaze in less than 15 minutes, Smith said.

Michels, who owns CM Farm, arrived before the fire was out and took photos with his cell phone camera.

“I just saw the fire, everything on fire… it was pretty intense,” he said. “You knew it wasn’t good.”

The bed of the pickup sat off-center in the middle of the highway surrounded by spilled paint and tools for hours after the crash. Up the road, the back tires of the flatbed truck were melted to the highway. The remains of the trucks’ front ends, blackened by the fire, were still dripping water from the firefighters’ efforts.

The men in the pickup were pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities said they had no immediate idea who the victims are because any I.D. would have melted in the fire.

“The three that were killed were burned beyond recognition,” Smith said. “We’re hoping that their family members contact us.”

Coroner’s officials will work to identify the men through dental records and fingerprints. CHP officers said they determined the victims were male only based on their haircuts. Autopsies will be performed, though results may take several weeks, authorities said.

The CHP learned the pickup was from Watsonville based on registration information associated with the truck’s back license plate. It’s unclear if any of the men killed were residents of the address where the truck was registered.

The men in the flatbed truck had been on their way to a clean-up job in Santa Cruz when the crash happened, Smith said. The 55-year-old driver is from Watsonville and his crew members are from Morgan Hill and Greenfield, the CHP said.

One man was flown to an out-of-county trauma center, the other two were taken to Watsonville Community Hospital.

Authorities said they didn’t know where the dead men were traveling to, though it appeared they might have been going to work because they had equipment to repair plaster and drywall, and there were stacks of paint sample cards on the highway.

The deaths come just months after Caltrans made safety improvements to reduce serious collisions on the 14-mile-long highway, which is prone to head-on crashes. A “rumble strip” was added to the center of the road, so drivers are alerted when they cross the double-yellow line, and the entire length of the highway was designated a no-passing zone.

Many wrecks on the highway are blamed on poor visibility during foggy mornings, illegal passing and speeding. Smith said he had not seen another fatal vehicle fire in the 11 years he has patrolled Santa Cruz County.

SANTA CRUZ - A mother accused of throwing her young son off a balcony last fall died in County Jail early today, jail officials reported.

Rita Sativa Kraft, 22, of Lompico, was found unresponsive in her cell at 3:20 a.m. and was pronounced dead at 3:55 a.m., according to Lt. Craig Wilson, who oversees the jail.

Wilson said there was no sign of trauma and foul play is not suspected. The cause of death is under investigation and an autopsy will be performed this week, Wilson said.

Kraft had no history of self-harm since she was jailed in October, according to jail staff. She had pleaded innocent to charges of attempted murder and causing great bodily injury to a child younger than 5, and was due back in court May 20th to set a trial date.

Wilson reported that correctional officers checked on Kraft at 2:19 a.m. and “there was no indication of anything out of the ordinary at that time.” She shared a cell with another inmate, who reportedly told officers Kraft had fallen ill.

Kraft has been jailed since October, after she allegedly confessed to a counselor that she had purposely thrown her son off a 21-foot balcony in early September. The boy, who was 18 months old at the time, suffered a serious head injury and had to be resuscitated, but survived.

Before Kraft spoke with her counselor, authorities had ruled the incident a freak accident.

Kraft’s attorney said last fall that the young mother suffered from post-partum depression, and also said several members of her family suffer from depression, two aunts have committed suicide and an uncle has threatened suicide.

“It was as very difficult case to determine what were the appropriate consequences. She did a horrible thing,” prosecutor Ariadne Symons said, though she praised Kraft for turning herself in. “She was the one who had a conscience. That was worth something, although it’s hard to know what it was worth.”

Officers early Wednesday arrested an Aromas man suspected of raping a 31-year-old Santa Cruz woman a week ago, police reported. Police said they don’t believe the attack is related to the March 19 rape at The Kind Grind coffee shop at the harbor.

Gerardo Ceballos, 24, allegedly met the woman at a downtown Santa Cruz night club early on April 23 and she accompanied him to his car to have a cigarette, according to police. In the car, Ceballos allegedly sexually assaulted her, the woman told police when she reported the attack around 9 p.m.

Investigators interviewed the woman and witnesses in an attempt to identify the suspect, but only developed a limited description, according to police.

The woman called police early Wednesday when she spotted the suspect in a downtown bar, police reported. Officers responded, arrested Ceballos on suspicion of rape and false imprisonment and booked him into County Jail, according to jail reports.

Drug agents and Watsonville police conducting a parole search at a Honeysuckle Drive house Tuesday afternoon arrested four Watsonville residents for a variety of charges, including parole violations, possessing stolen property, forgery, mail theft and child endangerment, according to Cmdr. Rich Westphal of the Santa Cruz County Narcotics Enforcement Team.

Officers went to the house looking for Salvador Lozano Leonor, 34, who was staying there with family members, and saw him try to discard a fixed-blade knife, according to Westphal. He also tried to hide a checkbook in a woman’s purse. Turns out, the checkbook belonged to a deceased person and Leonor did not have permission to possess or use it, Westphal reported after contacting the dead person’s family.

He was arrested on suspicion of violating his parole and possessing stolen property and a weapon.
Officers also arrested Jesus Farias, 22, on a warrant; Selma Lozano, no age given, on suspicion of possessing stolen property and drug paraphernalia; and Alex Leonor Lozano, no age given, on suspicion of child endangerment because he is the father of four children living in the house.

Westphal reported the house had “conditions unsafe for any child to reside,” citing suspected drug use and the presence of drug paraphernalia, suspected stolen mail and suspected gang activity in the house.

The city fire investigator is trying to determine what caused a boat at the Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor to catch fire Wednesday morning, Battalion Chief Matt McCaslin said.
The fire aboard the 14-foot nonmotorized sailboat was reported around 2:18 a.m. A Harbor Patrol officer noticed the blaze and quelled some of the flames with fire extinguisher, but firefighters were called into to put out the fire, according to McCaslin.
No one was near the boat. The vessel was on a trailer — not in the water — parked on the west side of the harbor near the Murray Street bridge.
The cause remains under investigation and arson has not been ruled out, McCaslin said.

A 17-year-old girl narrowly escaped injury when someone threw a Molotov cocktail through her bedroom window Wednesday night.
Sheriff’s detectives said the nighttime firebombing at a house off Green Valley Road likely was gang-related and may be payback for a gang fight in the same neighborhood last month that sent two teens to the hospital. However, detectives said they don’t have any suspects.
The flaming bottle landed in the girl’s bedroom around 10:45 p.m. Wednesday, igniting the curtains and bedspread, according to Sgt. Mario Sulay. This story will be updated.

National Safe Kids Week doesn’t start until the end of the month, but the Santa Cruz Fire Department is getting things going early with a fun-filled event Saturday.

Firefighters and representatives from the Safe Kids Chapter of Santa Cruz County will inspect child safety seats and help kids get their bike helmets to fit correctly during the event, which runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Santa Cruz Fire Station 3, 335 Younglove Ave. There will also be safety-themed games and prizes for kids.

Parents can also get information about the importance of child safety seats, booster seats and bicycle helmets. Kids are supposed to ride in some sort of safety seat until their are 8 years old or 4 feet 9 inches tall, but a local survey reported only about 40 percent of children ages 5-9 ride safely in cars. Another county survey found bike helmet use was observed among only 41 percent of children in 2007.

Call Santa Cruz Fire during business hours 420-5280 for information.

The memorial service for the cyclist killed in a collision on Mission Street earlier this month will be Saturday.

Chris Rock, 40, died when he collided with a quarry truck April 8. Police are still investigating the crash, which happened near Bay Street, the same spot where another cyclist died in a collision last summer. Rock, who was deaf, had lived on the Westside for years and regularly rode his bike on Mission Street, friends said.

Rock’s funeral will be at 2 p.m. at Calvary Episcopal Church, 532 Center St. Sign Language interpreters will be provided and a reception will follow.

SANTA CRUZ — April Dawn Jackson Reynolds was sentenced to 10 years in state prison today for driving drunk and hitting and killing Lauren Berglund, 20, on Highway 9 last May.
Reynolds, 41 of Boulder Creek, had been convicted of driving under the influence in 1994 and was driving on a suspended license as she sped north on Highway 9 from Boulder Creek on May 14. Reynolds, who prosecutors said had a blood-alcohol level of .27, has said she doesn’t remember crashing into Berglund, who was walking home on the narrow road shoulder.
Reynolds kept driving until she slammed her Chevy pickup into an embankment further down the road. Witnesses estimated she was driving 60-75 mph on a stretch of road posted at 30 mph and had veered into the guardrail at least once before she hit Berglund, a San Lorenzo Valley High grad.
In February, she pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter, driving on a suspended license and having a blood-alcohol level higher than .15. Reynold’s driver’s license had been suspended because she never completed the proper steps to have it reinstated.
She faced 11 years in prison.

The suspect in a gang-related shooting Monday afternoon was arrested inside a clothing store on Main Street and police believe they found the gun he used hidden inside store merchandise, Sgt. Terry Traub reported in a press release late Monday.

The victim, an 18-year-old Watsonville man, suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was taken to Watsonville Community Hospital for treatment, according to police. His condition was not available late Monday, though Traub said he is “recovering.”

The suspect, Luis Alberto Vasquez, 18, of Las Lomas, was booked into County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder, participating in a street gang and using a firearm, police reported.

Details on how the shooting occurred were not clear, but Traub said it was gang-motivated.

Police reported officers were sent to the Ross Outlet Store at 1455 Main St. just before 4 p.m. because there were “Cholos” inside the store trying to fight a man, later identified as Vasquez, who was hiding in the building.

Around the same time, officers responding to the store pulled over a vehicle that was speeding away from Montabello Drive and Clifford Avenue — a neighborhood northwest of the store — and found the gunshot victim inside the car. The shooting had apparently taken place at Montabello Drive and Montabello Court, police reported. Officers were sent to that location to secure the crime scene.

Back at Ross, police learned the man being chased through the store was the suspect in the shooting. Vasquez was detained, but did not have a gun with him. Also, the men trying to fight him left the store, according to police.

However, people who had witnessed the shooting identified Vasquez as the shooter, Traub reported.

Officers — with the help of Ross employees, management and security — cleared the store of customers, had a police dog search the building to ensure no one else was hiding inside, then brought in Watsonville police cadets to search for a gun. Cadets teamed with store employees to search aisle-by-aisle and found the gun hidden in merchandise, police reported. Traub did not say what product the gun had been concealed in.

Police cadets were then sent to the shooting scene to search for shell casings. The cadets searched side-by-side and found a casing “in the area which Vasquez fired the firearm,” Traub reported. He did not elaborate on where the shooting occurred or where the victim was when he was struck by the bullet.

Police reported finding one shell casing. They did not say how many times the victim was shot or what caliber gun was used.

Traub praised Ross employees and the police cadets for their assistance in the investigation.