Two Arcadia residents were killed in an early morning auto accident when their Toyota Camry was broadsided by a Cadillac. Kevin Bruggeman and an unidentified female were the victims.
A woman pedestrian was critically injured in a hit and run and an Arcadia police officer suffered injuries in a second mishap, both in heavy traffic outside Santa Anita Park. The female victim also suffered the theft of her purse just minutes before the auto mishap.
The death of Sean O'Brien who was killed walking across Campus Drive from the High School, has caused increased concern over the need for greater traffic safety measures in the area.
James Bates of Arcadia was ordered to spend 6 months in county jail for the freeway deaths of Denise Wilson and David Hawkins. A two-year sentence was suspended. Bates is on five years probation and must abstain from use of alcoholic beverages. Though Bates had been drinking during the afternoon before, his blood alcohol level was only .03 after the 1 A.M. accident.
The city has taken a second pumper truck out of service following a July 4 incident in which a water pump failed to engage on a fire truck. The two engines that malfunctioned were bought from Kovatch Mobile Equipment Fire Apparatus. David Contreras died in the July 4 incident. See related story, Arcadia Weekly, July 11, 2002, p. 8.
Despite the protests of relatives and friends of the victims, 21 year old Arcadian Jim Bates will face only misdemeanor charges for the freeway deaths of two people. Bates drove across three traffic lanes in an attempt to make the Baldwin Avenue offramp of the Foothill Freeway. The accident happened on April 16, 1982.
Wallace Wells was sentenced to 6 years for vehicle manslaughter. Arcadia residents Kevin Bruggeman and Melissa Dicke were killed when Wells ran a stop sign and hit their car.
Lisa Melinda Welchert was convicted on charges related to an Arcadia traffic fatality on February 9, 1999 that killed John Chan. The police were not held liable.
A 51-year-old Monrovia man died on Santa Anita Avenue when his pickup truck hit a tree, just south of Colorado Boulevard. His name has not been released yet.
Police arrrested an Arcadia juvenile after he allegedly sideswiped a United States Mail carrier's vehicle and then fled the scene at Second Avenue and El Dorado. His license plate was left at the scene.
38-year-old Jose Ruiz of San Gabriel was struck by a sport utility vehicle while crossing the street at Huntington Drive and Baldwin Avenue. He remains in critical condition.
Arcadia police, working with other law enforcement agencies, uncovered a major auto theft ring operating in the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys. Two men were arrested and four cars were recovered from a warehouse in Arcadia.