Kitchens was transported to Santa Paula Memorial Hospital with moderate injuries and was reported to be in stable condition.The CHP is still investigating the cause of Bear’s vehicle drifting off the highway.Sunday’s accident was the fourth fatal incident on Highway 126 since July 26, when Robin McDonald-Gwaltney, 46 of Oxnard, was struck by an alleged drunk driver while she stood on the road shoulder helping her son, Jason McMillan, 20. McMillan’s vehicle had broken down on the way to his wedding rehearsal at Church of the Angels Chapel in Santa Paula, and he received major injuries in the accident that occurred near Briggs Road. Sergio Casas, 36 of Fillmore, was arrested for suspicion of DUI and felony gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.Two small Fillmore children died resulting from an accident that occurred on July 30th on Highway 126 near 10th Street when the vehicle driven by their mother was forced off the road. Maria Bernal, 30 of Fillmore, was traveling eastbound when her vehicle was cut off by another driver. As Bernal sought to control her vehicle it shot through the center divider onto the westbound lanes where Bernal’s car was struck on the passenger side by a dump truck. The vehicle rolled several times before coming to rest upside down on the embankment just above the Highway 126/10th Street westbound offramp. Although wearing safety devices, Bernal and the children were ejected from the car. Two-year-old Marlene Bernal died several hours later; her brother, 5-year-old Bryan Bernal, remained on life-support until he died Tuesday shortly after noon. Bernal received moderate injuries in the accident.Highway 126 for many years was called Blood Alley until improvements were completed, but the spate of fatal accidents is sure to revive the tragic road nickname.
Another person dies in Highway 126 accident, death toll four in three weeks
August 17, 2001
Santa Paula News
Another person died as the result of a Highway 126 accident over the weekend, bringing the death toll on a short stretch of the freeway to four in three weeks. A passenger was saved by a passerby before an intense fire consumed the vehicle, which went off the road near Sycamore Road.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesAnother person died as the result of a Highway 126 accident over the weekend, bringing the death toll on a short stretch of the freeway to four in three weeks. A passenger was saved by a passerby before an intense fire consumed the vehicle, which went off the road near Sycamore Road.Monet Marie Bear, 24 of Ventura and the mother of a 6-week-old infant, was driving westbound at about 3:45 a.m. when her car drifted off the roadway, landing in a culvert near the Sycamore Road exit.Although the car flipped over, it came to rest on its wheels but caught fire, according to a California Highway Patrol spokesman.The passerby, Dave Wareham, a Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Sgt., stopped at the scene and was able to pull passenger Nicholas Kitchens, 21 of Ventura, from the car but the heat was too intense to rescue Bear, who died in the fire that engulfed the vehicle within three minutes.
