Car slams into front yard

Two men in San Diego Country Estates say they were almost hit late Wednesday afternoon when a car came speeding down the hill of Vista Vicente Drive and ended up in a front yard after the driver allegedly lost control of the vehicle.

The 52-year-old driver was transported by Cal Fire/Ramona Fire Department paramedics to Pomerado Hospital, said CHP Officer Dan Matthews.

“Alcohol is believed to be a factor,” Matthews said.

Skid marks showed the car cut across the driveway of Malcom and Nanette Hill’s home at 15554 Vista Vicente Drive. The car then drove over landscaping of rocks and plants and hit a tree.

Matthews said the driver came “too fast around the curve, loses control, overcorrects.” He then rotated clockwise, skidding into the yard, Matthews said.

Hill’s son, Craig, said he was putting out the trash at the end of his parent’s driveway and was talking to 85-year-old Elliott Fox across the street just before the accident at 4:10 p.m. Both men estimated the car was traveling 60 to 70 mph in the 25 mph speed zone.

“Suddenly we heard this noise,” said Fox. “I couldn’t believe when I heard it. I couldn’t believe the speed. He never put on his brakes.”

Fox said if he had been standing where Hill was, he wouldn’t have been able to move quickly enough and would have been hit.

Hill said he had to make a quick decision which way to move.

“I jumped almost over to the yellow line. I was probably 10 feet away from getting hit,” he said.

Once the car stopped in the Hills’ yard, Hill said the driver tried to leave but couldn’t move the car because it was on large rocks.

The driver told him he lived in the neighborhood, Hill said.