Pedestrian Killed After Car Jumps Curb

A Redondo Beach man who may have suffered a diabetic reaction to alcohol on Tuesday lost control of the pickup truck he was driving and struck a woman standing beside a busy Lawndale intersection, killing her.

Frank A. Watts, 48, was booked on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving after the 11 a.m. accident, which killed Rebecca Fields, 47, of Inglewood, Sheriff’s Sgt. Joe Giunta said. Watts was released on bail Wednesday.

Fields was standing on a traffic island on the northwest corner of Hawthorne and Redondo Beach boulevards when Watts’ truck, which was westbound on Redondo Beach Boulevard, jumped the curb and struck her, Giunta said.

Witnesses told investigators that they saw Watts driving erratically for several miles before the crash. Giunta said Watts told police he had been drinking, although results of a blood alcohol test were not available. Paramedics at the scene diagnosed him as suffering from diabetic shock.

Fields was dragged 60 feet under the pickup truck before Watts came to a stop. She was pronounced dead less than an hour later at Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center in Hawthorne.