Driver in alleged DUI fatality on Hwy 56 to be arraigned

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – An 18-year-old who allegedly was intoxicated when he
got into a head-on freeway wreck that killed an 22-year-old driver 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 this 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.

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.