Laguna man killed in car crash

Marisa O’Neil

Laguna Beach resident Ralph Difiore, 64, died after the Chrysler

convertible he was driving was broadsided by an SUV on Jamboree Road

just north of Pacific Coast Highway on Tuesday afternoon, police

said. Police are still investigating the crash.

“God wanted to take him at this time,” his son Dean Difiore said.

“There’s nothing we can do but pray for his soul and his family. It’s

going to be a tough time for me.”

Ralph Difiore grew up in the Bronx and worked as a school teacher

for 30 years, his son said.

“He’s a good man,” Dean Difiore said. “Everybody liked him. It’s a

shame.”

Coroner’s investigators performed an autopsy on Ralph Difiore on

Wednesday, but the cause of death is pending further review and may

not be known for another six weeks, supervising deputy coroner Joseph

Luckey said.

A 2002 Isuzu Rodeo, driven by 35-year-old Tustin resident Martha

Lopez, was traveling south on Jamboree Road and turning left onto

Back Bay Drive when the cars collided. Difiore was driving a 2000

Chrysler Sebring, which was headed north, Newport Beach Police Sgt.

Steve Shulman said.

Lopez was admitted to Western Medical Center in stable condition

Tuesday, Shulman said.

The Isuzu had moderate front-end damage, and the air bags

inflated. The Chrysler was hit in the driver’s-side door, and the

passenger side came to rest against a light pole.

The crash occurred at 2:23 p.m., Shulman said. Ralph Difiore was

declared dead 30 minutes later at Hoag Hospital, Luckey said.

Balboa Island resident Kathy Finch was headed south on Jamboree

Road shortly before the collision and saw the Chrysler pulled over on

the side of the road in the northbound lanes, she said. The horn or

car alarm on the Chrysler was going off, she said, and the driver

appeared to be searching for something on the seat or floor of the

car.

“Then he just shot up in his seat and took off,” Finch said. “He

was going so fast.”

She was worried that something was wrong, so she got into the left

lane to make a u-turn, she said. The crash happened before she could

turn.

It looked like the Isuzu couldn’t stop fast enough to avoid the

crash, Finch said.

“That poor woman seemed so afraid,” she said.

The cause of the accident is under investigation, Shulman said.

-- Andrew Edwards contributed to this story.