Two dead in Montecito crash

ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Two passengers died after the car they were in plunged off a Highway 101 overpass in Montecito and was hit by a vehicle carrying a family of five early this morning, authorities said.
Beau James Robertson, 29, of Palo Alto, was driving a red Chevrolet Camaro east along North Jameson Lane with two passengers, a 21-year-old woman from Palo Alto and a 26-year-old woman from Santa Clara, CHP Spokesman Don Clotworthy said. Robertson attempted to make a high-speed right turn onto San Ysidro Road at about 2:15 a.m., he said.

"In attempting [to] make this turn, Mr. Robertson lost control of the Camaro, which crossed over into the opposing lane and struck the east curb of the San Ysidro overpass near the center of the bridge," Clotworthy said. "The Camaro then jumped over the curb and sidewalk, impacting and knocking out the metal bridge railing."
After falling from the overpass, the car landed on its right side in the left southbound lane of the highway where it was hit almost immediately by a silver Honda Sedan, Clotworthy said, causing the Camaro to somersault and come to a stop in the right lane.
The two passengers in the Camaro were ejected from the car and pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. Their names are being withheld pending notification of their families.
Firefighters worked quickly to pull Robertson from the mangled wreckage.
"We used our spreaders, known as the Jaws of Life, to pop the door," said Ryland McCracken, a firefighter and paramedic with the Montecito Fire Department. "We just pulled him out of the car, put him on a backboard, put him in the ambulance and took him to the hospital."
Robertson remains in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit at Cottage Hospital with life-threatening head and internal injuries, Clotworthy said. CHP investigators determined he had been under the influence of alcohol and he faces two counts of felony DUI and vehicular manslaughter upon his recovery, Clotworthy added.
All members of the family in the Honda that hit the Camaro had their seatbelts secured and escaped with cuts and bruises, authorities said, adding that both front airbags deployed in the collision. The driver, Marina de Alfaro Duarte, 33, of Ventura, was taken to Cottage Hospital along with her 11-year-old daughter and 8-year-old niece.
Her husband, Enrique Alfaro, 34, was treated at the scene and left with a relative along with his 14-year-old son, who was uninjured in the accident, Clotworthy said.
"The Camaro had substantial damage all the way around," McCracken said, describing the scene that closed the southbound lanes of Highway 101 for five hours. "Most of the impact was toward the rear. The Honda had major front end damage."
Caltrans erected a temporary guardrail along the overpass and reopened both lanes of San Ysidro Road at around 11 a.m., Clotworthy said. Both Montecito and Carpinteria fire departments responded to the scene along with three ambulances, and CHP and Santa Barbara County Sheriff's officers.