4 people killed on High Desert roads in weekend of harsh weather, unnatural deaths
Four people were killed on High Desert highways last weekend in a hectic two-day period of fatal incidents as historically harsh winter storms and winds hit San Bernardino County.
In the early hours of Saturday, two deaths resulted from separate incidents relatively close to one another on State Route 62's stretch through the High Desert.
Alonso Yepez, a 61-year-old Twentynine Palms man, died as a result of a traffic collision while driving on the highway's stretch through his city of residence near Fiesta Road, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's-Coroner Press Release page for disclosing unnatural deaths.
Deputies from the sheriff's Morongo Basin Station responded to the crash at 1:46 a.m. and declared Yepez dead half an hour later, at 2:15 a.m., the coroner said. The sheriff's department didn't respond to a request for further information.
Joshua Tree man Linden Burke, 81, died not far from home in the second Saturday-morning incident.
The coroner said Burke's death occurred after a vehicle hit him while he walked along SR-62, west of its intersection with White Feather Road. The San Bernardino County Superior Court's Joshua Tree District courthouse sits along the highway nearby.
California Highway Patrol officers responded to the scene at 5:07 a.m. and declared Burke dead on scene at 5:11 a.m., per the coroner.
Burke was walking westbound in the right-hand lane of the highway, meant for cars driving the opposite direction, when he "was struck and killed" by a 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche being driven eastbound by Richard Helmle of Twentynine Palms, 43, CHP-Morongo Basin information officer Mike Radford added in an email.
"Helmle stayed at the crash scene and cooperated with investigating officers," Radford stated. "This crash is still under investigation. Alcohol and/or drugs did not appear to be a factor."
On Sunday afternoon, two people died in a head-on wreck farther north.
Ridgecrest residents Steven Tuttle and Keiko Tuttle, 35 and 37, respectively, were killed in a head-on collision around 1:40 p.m. Sunday on a remote stretch of Highway 395 near the unincorporated community of Red Mountain, according to the coroner and CHP-Barstow information officer Bradley Walters.
Officers from CHP's Barstow station responded to the crash at 1:46 p.m. and declared both Tuttles, who were in the same 2012 Nissan SUV, dead at the scene.
An unidentified Ridgecrest man, 25, drove a 2018 Subaru sedan on the other end of the Sunday afternoon collision, Walters said in an email. He was rushed to Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster for his injuries. He's expected to survive.
The 25-year-old drove his Subaru north while Steven Tuttle drove the Nissan south at unknown speeds when the collision occurred. "For reasons unknown," the Subaru drifted into the single southbound lane on this stretch, directly in the path of the Tuttles, and collided with their Nissan, according to Walters.
"Alcohol and/or drugs are not a contributing factor in this collision," Walters stated, adding that the incident remains under a CHP-Barstow investigation.
Separate from the High Desert, an 11-year-old Fontana child died Saturday evening as a passenger in a vehicle collision around 7:30 p.m. at the intersection of Beech Avenue and Whittram Avenue in Fontana, according to the coroner. The child's name and sex weren't given.
It's unclear if tumultuous weather hammering San Bernardino County is considered a factor in these fatal incidents, but sleek, icy or snow-covered roads and heavy winds — the latter being more prevalent in the High Desert — have added risks in recent weeks to driving across Southern California.
The National Weather Service's Las Vegas and San Diego offices issued wind advisories Thursday afternoon covering the Barstow and Victorville areas to take effect most of Friday, from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., with forecasts of 25 to 35 mile-per-hour southwest winds gusting up to 60 miles per hour.
The strongest winds in this case were expected "along the desert slopes of the mountains into adjacent desert areas" and "from Owens Lake southward" on US-395, per the advisories.
The NWS warns that "patchy blowing dust could impact travel" during winds of this nature along with unsecured objects being blown around, tree limbs falling down and power outages.
"Use extra caution when driving, especially if operating a high profile vehicle," the agency advises. "Secure outdoor objects."
Charlie McGee covers California’s High Desert for the Daily Press, focusing on the city of Barstow and its surrounding communities. He is also a Report for America corps member with The GroundTruth Project, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization dedicated to supporting the next generation of journalists in the U.S. and around the world. McGee may be reached at 760-955-5341 or cmcgee@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @bycharliemcgee.
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: 4 people killed on High Desert roads in weekend of harsh SoCal weather
