Lemon Grove Man Is Booked for Manslaughter in Crash that Killed 2

Updated at 10:50 p.m. Dec. 12

The California Highway Patrol and Justin Fould’s employer Monday said he had not attended a company Christmas party before the fatal accident. The employer party took place a day later.

Original story:

A 39-year-old Lemon Grove man driving a Chevy truck failed to slow for 5 mph traffic on a La Mesa freeway Friday night—causing a fiery four-car crash that killed an adult couple in a Nissan SUV, authorities said.

Justin Stephen Foulds was booked at County Jail on charges including gross vehicular manslaughter in the rear-end crash, according to online jail records.

He’s being held on $500,000 bail with arraignment set for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in El Cajon Superior Court.

Foulds told the California Highway Patrol that he was driving home from a company Christmas party when the accident occurred on southbound state Route 125 near Interstate 8, said CHP public affairs Officer Brian Pennings.

The names of the dead—a man and a woman—were not immediately disclosed.

Their bodies, both in a charred Nissan Pathfinder, were removed by Heartland firefighters based in La Mesa more than two hours after the 5:30 p.m. crash south of Interstate 8. For almost four hours, traffic was diverted from southbound Route 125 to Grossmont Center Drive.

The female victim is thought to have been the driver, according to an early report by the county Medical Examiner’s Office.

Pennings said Foulds was unable to avoid plowing into the Pathfinder directly in front of him. 

“His 2001 green Chevrolet Silverado struck the rear of the Pathfinder, propelling it into the rear of a Lincoln and the Lincoln into the rear of a Ford F-150,” Pennings said. 

The crash caused both the Silverado and the Pathfinder to be hooked together, he said. Footage from TV helicopters showed bright flames consuming the two vehicles crumpled together, leading to early reports that a single car was on fire.

According to witnesses, both vehicles became fully engulfed in flames within seconds, Pennings said.

“Foulds was able to self-extricate from his vehicle,” he said. “Unfortunately, both the adult male and adult female occupants inside the Pathfinder were unable to escape and succumbed as a result. Both of the other parties in the Lincoln and F-150 were uninjured.”

Another motorist said the Silverado had sideswiped his car further north on Route 125—before the series of rear-endings near Interstate 8.

Pennings said Foulds was unaware of the damage he had done, and didn’t know that a man and woman had been killed in the incident, which took place on the first day of Christmas in the Village.

Within hours of the accident, the California DUI Injury Lawyer Blog had posted details of the incident:

There is no excuse for driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. In such accidents like this one on December 9th, if it is determined by police that the driver of the Silverado was driving while intoxicated, he can be subjected to criminal charges and may be held liable for the death of the victims.