Victims Of Double-Fatal La Mesa Freeway Wreck ID'd

LA MESA, CA — Authorities Tuesday publicly identified a La Mesa couple who were killed this week in a pileup on Interstate 8 near Grossmont Center mall.

James Allina, 79, and his 77-year-old wife, Rosalyn, were seated inside a stationary Toyota sedan with its lights off on the eastbound side of the freeway west of Fletcher Parkway when a Dodge SUV rear-ended the apparently broken-down car shortly before 7:30 p.m. Monday, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office.

Following the impact, a Kia sedan struck the back of the SUV, the agency reported.

James Allina died at the scene of the accident, despite the efforts of witnesses and paramedics who tried to revive him and his wife. An ambulance crew took Rosalyn Allina to Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, where she was pronounced dead.

Medics took the driver and passenger of the SUV, a 34-year-old San Diego woman and a 4-year-old boy, to Sharp Grossmont Hospital for precautionary evaluations, according to the California Highway Patrol. The driver of the Kia, a 63-year-old El Cajon woman, was treated for minor injuries, CHP Officer Jasmine Lopez said.

The series of crashes also resulted in flying debris that damaged a 30- year-old El Cajon man's Mercedes-Benz, Lopez said.

It was unclear why the couple's vehicle had stopped on the freeway, according to the medical examiner.

— City News Service