Man Killed in Car Accident
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A 23-year-old Dana Point man was killed Sunday when his car plunged off the Ortega Highway through a barbed-wire fence and overturned in a field, authorities said.
The driver, identified as James R. Gray, was ejected from his Ford Maverick. He was pronounced dead shortly after the 3:30 p.m. accident, which occurred about eight miles northeast of San Juan Capistrano, California Highway Patrol Officer Thomas Kerns said.
Statements of witnesses indicate that Gray was traveling east on the Ortega Highway “at a high rate of speed” when he tried to pass slower-moving cars, Kerns said.
Gray pulled back when he saw oncoming traffic but swerved too far and careened off the road, witnesses told Kerns.
The car crashed through a barbed-wire fence and rolled over in the grassy field, ejecting Gray, Kerns said.
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