Pedestrian hit by car in fatal accident on Twentynine Palms Highway
Leah Sanson, Hi-Desert Starlet
Caltrans keeps the No. One lane of Twentynine Palms Highway near Barberry Avenue closed after a deadly accident involving a car and a pedestrian Tuesday morning.
Leah Sanson, Hi-Desert Starlet
Investigation underway
Sheriff’s deputies and a coroner’s examiner work on the scene where a man was hit by a car and died Tuesday morning in Yucca Valley. The Major Accident Investigation Team is determining exactly what happened to cause the collision.
Posted: Tuesday, August 1, two thousand seventeen Ten:52 am
YUCCA VALLEY — A man walking across Twentynine Palms Highway died when he was hit by a car at Barberry Avenue before sunrise this morning.
Bruce Ball, 67, of Yucca Valley, was walking across highway around Five:15 a.m. when he was hit by a Toyota Corolla heading west, going forty to forty five mph in the No. Two lane.
“It was pretty dark and the streetlight is out,” Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Arthurton said, indicating the light on the northeast corner of the highway and Barberry Avenue, closest to the scene of the accident.
“The driver instantaneously pulled over and went to see how the pedestrian was, then attempted to get people to slow down or stop,” Arthurton said.
Ball appeared to have suffered fatal injuries either on influence or instantly afterward, Deputy Jacob Naylor said.
The driver, Anthony Ruddy, 48, of Yucca Valley, called nine hundred eleven and deputies who arrived on the scene pronounced Ball dead at Five:20 a.m.
Ruddy was not hurt and his vehicle sustained minor harm.
The Morongo Basin sheriff’s station Major Accident Investigation Team is investigating the crash. Caltrans blocked off the No. One westbound lane of the highway to let the investigators and coroner work; traffic was diverted around the scene onto the Outer Highway Network.
YUCCA VALLEY — A man walking across Twentynine Palms Highway died when he was hit by a car at Barberry Avenue before sunrise this morning.
The pedestrian was crossing the highway around Five:15 a.m. when he was hit by a Toyota Corolla heading west in the No. Two lane.
“It was pretty dark and the streetlight is out,” Deputy Ryan Arthurton said, indicating the light on the northeast corner of the highway and Barberry, closest to the scene of the accident.
“The driver instantly pulled over and went to see how the pedestrian was, then attempted to get people to slow down or stop,” Arthurton said.
The pedestrian emerges to have suffered fatal injuries either on influence or instantly afterward, Deputy Jacob Naylor said. The driver called nine hundred eleven and deputies who arrived on the scene pronounced the man dead.
Little else is known about the man at this point; he has an out-of-state driver’s license, but may have been living in the Morongo Basin.
“There’s still a lot of unknowns here,” Arthurton said at the scene shortly after ten a.m.
The Morongo Basin sheriff’s station Major Accident Investigation Team are investigating the crash. Caltrans blocked off the No. One westbound lane of the highway to let the investigators and coroner work; traffic was diverted around the scene onto the Outer Highway Network.
The Hi-Desert Starlet will update this story as more information becomes available.