Crime & Safety
East County Man, 18, Killed In I-8 Crash ID'd
The person was driving on storm-drenched interstate when he struck an unoccupied CHP cruiser, officials said.
LA MESA, CA — Authorities Thursday publicly identified an 18-year-old man who died last weekend in a rainy-day traffic crash involving an unoccupied California Highway Patrol cruiser on Interstate 8 near Grossmont Center mall.
Eugene Nelson of El Cajon was heading west on the storm-drenched freeway when the 2014 Nissan Sentra he was driving plowed into the parked patrol vehicle just east of Baltimore Drive in La Mesa about 11:45 a.m. Saturday, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office.
Paramedics took Nelson to Sharp Memorial Hospital, where he died Monday evening.
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At the time of the fatal crash, Highway Patrol personnel were investigating a pair of solo car crashes in the area, CHP public affairs Officer Jared Grieshaber said.
The cruiser that was struck was parked partially in the far left-hand westbound lane of the freeway and partially in a center divider with its emergency lights activated, Grieshaber said.
