Four youths suspected in Highway 58 collisions

HINKLEY - Three weeks ago, Janice Bayer decided to take State Route 58 home at night instead of her usual route. She had just purchased a new minivan and did not want to dirty it on the dirt roads she prefers to travel. Just before her home near the intersection with Flower Street, she saw several railroad ties lined across Highway 58.

"I swerved to miss them," Bayer said, "but the people coming both ways got them."

Now, Califor nia Highway Patrol officers believe they got them, too - those responsible that is.

Officer Greg Smoak of the CHP said officers identified four juvenile suspects in connection to a string of obstructions placed in the middle of Highway 58 and the numerous resulting accidents. Over the past 18 months, tires, cinder blocks and railroad ties have been found in the roadway, endangering and frustrating motorists driving the already precarious highway.

"They obstructed a roadway in an attempt to cause traffic collisions for their amusement," Smoak said. "It's a pretty serious thing. It goes beyond being a game when you start stacking bricks in the roadway."

Smoak did not know how many collisions the obstructions had caused over the 18-month period. Many collisions occur along Highway 58, a two-lane highway that cuts through Hinkley on which cars and large semi-trucks travel at high speeds.

Officer Robert Stephano of the CHP investigated the incidents. Evidence and tips from area residents lead him to the four suspects, Smoak said.

Bayer said the suspects are all area kids.

"I hate to see kids go to jail, but someone could have been killed on this highway," she said.

Six months ago, she said, someone moved stacks of cinder blocks from a neighbor's home into the road. Before the blocks could be removed, 13 wrecked vehicles lined the side of the highway, and three were totaled, she said. Jessica Alley, whose mother lives in a house near the intersection, said that many people have wrecked in the area because of stuff placed in the middle of the road.

The CHP has not made any arrests in the case, which is still under investigation.

Anyone with further information or who has been a victim is asked to contact the CHP at 255-8700. To remain anonymous, call WeTip at 1(800)78-CRIME.

CONTACT THE WRITER: (760) 256-4123 or aaron_aupperlee@link.freedom.com