Ortega Highway

California must pay more than $2 million to a Lake Elsinore man injured in a crash on state-owned Ortega Highway, an Orange County Superior Court jury ruled Monday, four years to the day after the crash. The area of winding highway where Philip Jones crashed, about eight miles east of San Juan Capistrano, was substandard and dangerous, his attorney said after the verdict.

The driver of a cement truck who was attempting to avoid a collision with a van and another cement truck crashed through a bridge railing on Ortega Highway just east of San Juan Capistrano Friday morning, blocking commuter traffic for at least two hours. California Highway Patrol spokesman Ken Daily said the truck came to rest with its rear wheels in the bed of San Juan Creek. The driver, Guillermo Saavedra Lopez, 36, of Azusa escaped with a small cut on his forehead, the spokesman said.

Eight people were hurt--three seriously--in a three-car collision that closed the Ortega Highway, backing up traffic for two miles in each direction for nearly two hours Sunday as rescuers raced to load the injured into helicopters and ambulances and remove the wreckage, authorities said.

Felony charges of illegally transporting and disposing of hazardous waste were filed Monday against Richard Duane Leavitt, arrested nearly three weeks ago on suspicion of dumping lethal chemicals on the Ortega Highway. The complaint, filed in South County Municipal Court by the Orange County district attorney's office, charges Leavitt, 37, of South Laguna, with one count of illegally transporting the chemicals and one of illegally disposing of them, Deputy Dist. Atty. Diane Kadletz said.

Some of them play a grim little game twice a day on their way to and from work by counting the telltale signs of accidents--ashes left from warning flares, bits of metal and glass, angry skid marks--that happened since they passed that way a few hours earlier. Another has heard the seemingly endless screams of a driver trapped inside a mangled vehicle, covered with blood and yelling for God. At least one is under a doctor's care for stress.

State Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) introduced a resolution last week to authorize the California Highway Patrol to use radar equipment in an effort to curb speeding on the Ortega Highway. The state-owned highway, scene of numerous traffic accidents, stretches from San Juan Capistrano through the foothills to southwest Riverside County.

A man suffered major injuries when his car went off a cliff along the Ortega Highway on Thursday and plunged 250 feet to a creek bed. A helicopter from El Toro Marine Corps Air Station flew the unidentified motorist to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, where it is believed he was treated for internal injuries and a broken right leg. No reports of his condition were available.

A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy has died of injuries she suffered Monday in a single-car accident on Ortega Highway, authorities said Thursday. Bonnie Newman, 42, of Aliso Viejo was westbound Monday night when she lost control of her car on a curve near Rancho Carillo Road, California Highway Patrol Officer Steve Miles said. Newman, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the car, Miles said.

A California Highway Patrol officer rammed a stolen car Monday to end a chase along Ortega Highway, the CHP reported. Officer Steve Bell and the driver of the stolen car, Temecula resident Eddie Rivera, 23, were slightly injured in the intentional collision at Ortega Highway and Rancho Viejo Road, the CHP said. A pickup truck not involved in the chase was also damaged in the 3:30 p.m. incident, but the driver was not injured.

Orange County fire officials are trying to determine if the man they believe set a series of small fires Friday night on Ortega Highway is linked to a rash of similar roadside fires across the state. At least six small fires were set at turnout locations about 10:30 p.m. Friday, said Capt. Scott Brown of the Orange County Fire Authority. The fires were discovered along Ortega Highway from La Pata Avenue to the Riverside County line.