Ramona Resident Dies in Crash on San Vicente Road, Second Fatal Crash in a Week

Originally posted Aug. 30 at 8:30 a.m.

A 19-year-old Lakeside man was behind bars today in connection with a head-on collision in Ramona that left a 74-year-old Ramona resident dead.

Garrett Sparks was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter following the crash on San Vicente Road south of Warnock Drive about 7:40 p.m. Thursday, according to the California Highway Patrol .

Sparks told authorities he took his eyes off the road for at least 10 seconds while he was reaching for an item he dropped on the floorboard, CHP Officer Kevin Pearlstein said.

His southbound 2007 Ford Ranger drifted into oncoming traffic at about 50 mph and stuck a northbound 2000 Ford Ranger driven by Kenneth Frederick Crane of Ramona, according to the CHP.

Crane was pronounced dead at the scene from multiple blunt force injuries, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office.

The suspect was uninjured, according to authorities.

Investigators determined alcohol was not a factor in the crash, according to Pearlstein.

Sparks was being held in the San Diego Central Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail, with arraignment scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, according to jail records.

NBC 7 aired video of a neighbor that saw the head on crash from his driveway, and said a vehicle rolled numerous times and the driver was pinned in the vehicle. He also told NBC 7 that he thought that San Vicente Road should be widened.

This was the second fatal crash on San Vicente Road in a week to take the life of a Ramona resident. Last Thursday Victoria Scott Richeson, 18, died west of Wildcat Canyon Road.

-City News Service contributed to this post