POWAY, Calif. (KGTV) -- A father and son were killed during a crash in Poway Friday night, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department says.
The crash happened on the 15000 block of Espola Road just after 7 p.m. Friday. Deputies say a Toyota sedan driven by the 54-year-old father was broadsided by a Mercedes sedan as it attempted to make a left out of the Poway High School parking lot.
The department says the father died at the scene while his 14-year-old son was taken to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead. The 19-year-old driver of the Mercedes was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Drugs or alcohol are not believed to be factors in the crash, the department says.
The son was in eighth grade and played on the San Diego Crush Baseball Club High School Prep team.
Co-Owner Nick Carmichael said they moved practice from Friday morning to that evening at Poway High School due to rain.
"We're all truly just devastated by last night's events... The relationship between the dad and the son is probably as loving and supportive as anyone can hope for. The dad was at every single one of his son's games and practices," he said.
Carmichael said the Poway community has come out in force to support the family through this tragedy, "the outpour of support from the Poway community has been truly amazing. The Crush community is large and numerous past players, past families, past coaches, have reached out in love and support and it's really been incredible."
He said family and the team gathered Saturday to honor their memory.
Poway Unified School District sent ABC 10News this statement:
"We are deeply saddened by the news that one of our students has passed away. We know this will deeply impact many friends, classmates, and staff who knew the student. We will have a team of counselors available to support any students and staff who have been affected by this loss. We will be reaching out to the family to express our deepest condolences and how our community might support them during this difficult time."
There is a GoFundMe page to support the family funeral fees and medical bills.
This is not the first time a serious crash happened on Espola Road.
In 2019 a head on crash happened in February of 2019 on Espola Road near Twin Peaks Road, sending five people to the hospital.
Neighbor Barbara Zachary walks Espola Road every day and sees how wrecklessly people drive in that area.
"This is a school zone, this is our high school right here, this isn’t a freeway and shouldn’t be treated as such," she said.
The City of Poway is working on a safety project along a section of Espola Road, but it's about a block short of the dangerous curve where Friday night's crash happened and it's focus is on pedestrians like Barbara.
She thinks more should be done.
"Whatever they can do to invite people to slow down, whether it’s put flashing lights or something like that in the center," she said.
She hopes any improvements will prevent another tragedy.
"As a person who’s been hit by a car, I maybe have more sympathy and empathy with the situation than most people... People are distracted, they don’t take care enough, they don’t slow down, but this ruins people’s lives and I understand that just about as well as anyone does."
