Calif. agency must pay $6.3M for crash of speeding car on rolling mountain road

Calif. must pay $6.3M over crash on rolling road

VICTORVILLE, Calif. — A jury says the California Department of Transportation must pay $6.3 million in damages for the crash of a car speeding on a rolling mountain road.

Department attorney Christopher Hiddleson says jurors ruled Friday that Caltrans was partially at fault for the 2004 crash in the San Bernardino Mountains that killed two teenagers. The jurors concluded the agency knew the road was hazardous.

The 17-year-old driver was intentionally speeding to go airborne but lost control. She pleaded guilty in juvenile court to vehicular manslaughter and got no jail time.

The damages were awarded to the dead girls’ mothers for wrongful death and a survivor who sued for personal injury. Caltrans argued the road was safe when driven legally.

Hiddleson says Caltrans won’t appeal.