Woman Hit by Car, Killed in Grantville

The driver involved in the deadly accident is an active-duty military service member who was on his way to work and did not see the pedestrian

A woman was killed Wednesday morning in Grantville after an active-duty military service member accidentally struck her with his car, officials confirmed.

The fatal accident happened around 7:30 a.m. outside the Bella Posta apartment complex on San Diego Mission Road, near Interstate 15.

The victim โ€“ identified Thursday by the San Diego County Medical Examiner's office as Yoshiko Osanai, 62 โ€“ was walking west on the south sidewalk when the 21-year-old service member driving a Jeep pulled out of a driveway, turned right and hit her.

Investigators said the driver was on his way to work and didnโ€™t see the woman. He didnโ€™t realize he had struck someone until he drove for several hundred feet.

The driver told police he had been having car trouble. When he stopped and got out to check on his car, he saw the woman, critically injured in the street.

By the time paramedics arrived, Osanai had passed, officials said.

San Diego Police Department Lt. Eric Hays said the driver stayed on scene and was very shaken up.

โ€œHe's pretty upset so we have a crisis intervention counselor here. A 21-year-old active-duty military guy going to work obviously didn't look in the opposite direction โ€“ the direction she was walking on the sidewalk,โ€ Hays explained.

Police said the driver was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Investigators said it an unfortunate accident and the driver was not cited or arrested.

Kathleen Ferrier, of the Circulate San Diego organization, said Wednesdayโ€™s fatal pedestrian collision is the 14th of its kind so far this year in the City of San Diego.

โ€œWe are seeing a record number of pedestrians in San Diego being hit by cars. Worse, they continue to happen in the same neighborhoods time and time again. These collisions are preventable. How many pedestrians have to be injured before the City takes action?โ€ Ferrier told NBC 7.

โ€œWe are urging the City to commit to a plan to save lives through infrastructure, enforcement and education to eliminate traffic deaths, especially on our most dangerous streets,โ€ she added.

Circulate San Diego is a regional grassroots organization dedicated to improving streetscape designs in local neighborhoods by adding more accessible walking paths, more bike lanes, better transit
routes and traffic calming measures.

According to the latest available data, between 1998 and 2012 there have been at least 50 pedestrian collisions within a two-square-mile radius of this latest fatal accident on San Diego Mission Road.

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