A 35-year-old man was found dead on North Santa Fe Avenue in Vista on February 19, 2025, just two miles from his home. His family wants to know what happened.
“It hurts so much to know he was there alone and I cannot still process it that someone did that to him,” his widow said. “My husband was a veteran,” she added. “We actually met at Camp Pendleton about thirteen years ago and since the moment we met, we’ve been inseparable.”
The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office said the victim was spotted by a passerby as he lay next to his one-wheel electric skateboard. Now, a memorial sits near the spot of the crash.
His family remembers him as a kind person who loved spending time outdoors and with his three daughters, ages 3, 5, and 15. “My kids, they’re going to grow up without a father,” his widow lamented. “They know that he loved them so much.”
“That is a busy road. We have been there. It is a very busy road and people drive too fast in that area,” said the deceased man’s mother. “We were afraid we were going to get run over before we left there.”
Between January 2022 and September 2024, there have been 56 crashes in Vista involving pedestrians. Six of them were deadly, according to California Highway Patrol data.
In that same time frame, there were three deadly crashes involving pedestrians in the same area where this man was killed.
Vista is a medium-sized city within the San Diego-Carlsbad, CA metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2020 census, Vista had a population of 98,381. Vista’s sphere of influence also includes portions of unincorporated San Diego County to the north and east, with a county island in the central west.
For a confidential consultation with an experienced car accident lawyer in San Diego, contact the Ozols Law Firm.