Pedestrians injured in truck accident A Huntington...

Pedestrians injured in truck accident

A Huntington Beach resident and her two children needed emergency

surgery on Tuesday after being hit by a pickup truck as they crossed

Slater Avenue.

An Le and her 18-month-old daughter were taken to Western Medical

Center with serious internal injuries, and her 10-year-old son was

taken to UCI Medical Center after the 5:20 p.m. accident, police Lt.

Ed Deuel said.

Le was pushing her daughter in a stroller while walking with her

son in or near the crosswalk at Geraldine Lane when a red Dodge

pickup struck all three, Deuel said. The driver of the truck, a

45-year-old Huntington Beach resident, stopped after the accident and

was cooperating with police, Deuel said. She wasn’t arrested.

Huntington Beach Police ask that anyone who saw the accident call

investigator Tom Wood at (714) 536-5670.

Woman confesses to fatal hit-and-run

A Huntington Beach woman confessed to a hit-and-run at a Fountain

Valley intersection that killed a cyclist on Monday, police said.

Witnesses told officers they saw Huntington Beach resident

Jeanette McGoff, 43, get struck at 5:45 p.m. by a car that fled the

scene after the accident.

Kristen Stotts, 24, approached officers investigating the scene

about 40 minutes later and admitted that she’d hit McGoff, who was

riding in the bicycle lane, Fountain Valley Sgt. Kevin Thomas said.

McGoff was pronounced dead by emergency room staff at Huntington

Beach Hospital shortly after the accident. Police issued no citations

and made no arrests pending further investigation, Thomas said, but

Stotts’ 2000 Honda Civic was impounded by officers as evidence.

The Fountain Valley Police Department Traffic Bureau asks that

witnesses to the accident, at Slater Avenue and Santa Maria Street,

call (714) 593-4481.

Police crack down on seat-belt violations

The Huntington Beach Police Department began using officers to

concentrate specifically on writing seat-belt tickets on Monday, and

will do so through Nov. 30 as part of a national enforcement

campaign.

Funding for overtime spent on staffing will be paid for by a

federal grant administered by the California Office of Traffic Safety

through the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency.

At 79%, the national safety-belt use rate is the highest it has

ever been, but there are still nearly 60 million Americans, mostly

teenagers and young adults, risking their lives by driving unbuckled,

Lt. Janet Perez said.

Fatality rates for teens are twice that of older drivers, and the

risk of crashes for teens is four times that of older drivers,

according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Two

out of five deaths among teens are the result of a traffic crash.

During the two-week period, Huntington Beach officers will

intensify enforcement of child passenger-safety laws and seat-belt

laws. Several officers and a supervisor will be assigned each day to

patrol a designated area of the city. Drivers failing to restrain

themselves and their children passengers will be ticketed.

The two-week enforcement emphasis is coordinated by the Air Bag

and Seat Belt Safety Campaign of the National Safety Council, and is

based on a public health model called “high-visibility enforcement.”

High school evacuated

Students and teachers at Huntington Beach High School were sent

home for the day Wednesday after the school’s only water main

ruptured at about 8 a.m., school officials said.

The school was having a fire alarm installed through an outside

company when one of the workers accidentally hit and broke the water

main. Students and parents were notified at about 10:15 a.m. that the campus would be closed for the rest of the day. Officials said the

campus had to be closed because only one restroom was available for

the entire school.

Officials also announced that a meeting for special education

teachers was canceled, but that students enrolled in after-school

activities and sports should report as usual to their coaches or

instructors. The repair was expected to be completed late Wednesday

afternoon. The school will reopen today, officials said.