Driver Booked on Vehicular Manslaughter Charge in SR 56 Accident

An 18-year-old who allegedly was intoxicated when he got into a head-on freeway wreck that killed an 22-year-old Poway grad in Rancho Penasquitos was booked Thursday on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of a controlled substance.

Timothy Theodore Barnette of San Diego was jailed Thursday afternoon after being released from a hospital where he had been treated for serious injuries he suffered in the collision, according to the California Highway Patrol.

About 9:40 a.m. on May 16, a 2002 Ranger Rover sport utility vehicle driven by Barnette veered out of an eastbound lane on state Route 56, crossed a center median and smashed into an oncoming 2010 Toyota Scion near Black Mountain Road, authorities said.

The driver of the sedan, Nick Hart of San Diego, died at the scene. The 2009 Poway High School graduate and former Cal State San Marcos student was on his way to a family funeral at the time of the collision, according to a relative.

Authorities have not specified what type of drug Barnette allegedly was under the influence of when the collision occurred.

Barnette was being held on $100,000 bail pending arraignment, scheduled for Friday morning.

—City News Service