Terror as Truck Falls From Sky, Crushing 4 in San Diego Park

A bizarre accident marred a San Diego motorcycle festival when a truck literally fell from the sky and killed four people. The accident occurred Saturday afternoon when 25-year-old Richard Anthony Sepolio, a US Navy serviceman who police believe was intoxicated, lost control of his pickup truck on an elevated highway overpass above Chicano Park. The vehicle took flight from the San Diego-Coronado Bridge and fell into the park, crushing a T-shirt vendor's stand, killing four people and injuring nine (two of the victims are said to have sustained major trauma). A bystander described the scene as "like Superman had thrown a car right off a bridge."

The park had been hosting the end-of-race festival for La Raza Run, a motorcycle ride from Los Angeles to San Diego in which up to 2,000 people participated, according to the San Diego Tribune. "It's horrific," Officer Jake Sanchez of the California Highway Patrol said. "Innocent people were down here having a good time." Cops offered kudos to bystanders who helped out at the scene, including helping to right the truck and tend to victims with first aid assistance. The driver survived the crash and was taken to a local hospital, where he was evaluated and eventually charged with DUI causing death. (More weird news stories.)