Bicyclist dies after rig runs him over

Lolita Harper

An unidentified bicyclist died Monday morning after being struck

by a big rig truck as he tried to cross Harbor Boulevard, police

said.

Police said that the man was about 70 years old, but would not

release his name until his family was notified.

An 18-wheeler traveling westbound on Wilson Street made a right on

to Harbor as the man started across the busy street, witnesses told

police. A jumble of blankets, plastic bags and their miscellaneous

contents were strewn across the northbound lane of Harbor at Wilson

Street.

Costa Mesa Police Lt. Dale Birney said witnesses reported the

accident at about 11:20 a.m.

Birney said the driver of the truck, Johnny Cuesta, never saw the

bicyclist and didn’t know he had hit him until he was farther down

Harbor. The 31-year-old Cuesta, of Bakersfield, pulled over about 200

yards north of the intersection, Birney said.

Officers found the man in the middle of the intersection with

apparently fatal head injuries, Birney said. Responding paramedics

immediately pronounced him dead at the scene.

The horrible accent strangled the usually bustling activity on

Harbor, as cars and pedestrians slowed and stopped to see what had

happened. Police cars with gleaming lights, bright yellow caution

tape and a large fire engine caused major traffic detours. Cars were

backed up for miles in both directions for the remainder of the day,

officials said.

At 1 p.m., a dark-haired woman sat on the curb near the

intersection with her arms wrapped around her knees. She rocked

slowly, with tears streaming down her face as officers asked her to

describe what she had seen.

Groups of women with strollers and patrons of the nearby Taco Bell

gathered to watch officials clean up the scene and gather details of

what happened.

Rosa Morales, a mother of three, was strolling with her youngest

daughter on the way to Wilson Park when she saw the scene.

“It is so busy here,” Morales said in Spanish, adding that she

crosses the congested intersection often.

Morales said many people in the surrounding Westside neighborhood

walk to the bus stop, Harbor Center and the park daily. Not everybody

has a car, and the walks are relatively short and pleasant -- most of

the time, she said. But drivers are in a hurry and don’t always pay

attention, she said.

Frustrated drivers drove hastily through the parallel residential

streets to escape the traffic jam on Harbor. The driver of a red

Mercedes barely missed a walking couple when it rolled through a stop

sign on Maple Street.

Monday’s bicyclist was the third person killed on Harbor in 15

months.

In September 2001, 43-year-old Peter Hanahan died after being hit

by a small, brown truck as he was crossing Harbor at Merrimac Way,

police said. He was walking from his apartment complex to the bus

stop across the street at 6:05 a.m. He was transported to Hoag

Hospital, where he died from massive internal bleeding.

Two weeks ago, Antonio Lopez, 44, died in a three-vehicle crash on

the busy thoroughfare. Lopez was pronounced dead at the scene after a

woman who was pulling out of a driveway got hit by a sport utility

vehicle, lost control, became airborne, hit the center median and

crashed into Lopez’s van as he was traveling north on Harbor at about

3:15 p.m.

Birney said Harbor is the busiest street in Costa Mesa, if not in

all of Orange County. Harbor Boulevard runs through the heart of

Orange County from La Habra to Costa Mesa. The number of cars that

travel the road automatically increases the chances of an accident,

he said.

“That amount of volume of traffic would lend itself to more

traffic collisions,” he said.

* LOLITA HARPER covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at lolita.harper@latimes.com.