Blog Post

Bicycle Accident Kills Rialto Toddler, Seriously Injures Family


June 30, 2008
Topic: Bicycle Accidents

Drunk driving accidents are always so unnecessary and avoidable, but this one is particularly senseless. A 27-year-old driver from Phelan, so intoxicated he didn't even realize he'd managed to cause an accident, killed a 2-year-old girl and injured her family. The Rialto, California family was out for a bicycle ride when the drunken driving accident happened.

Unbelievably, the driver of the SUV, Jesse Rolando Astorga, had actually managed to cause another collision, and was in the act of escaping from the scene of that accident, when he caused this second more serious collision. Astorga rear-ended a Chevrolet and then fled from that scene. The driver of the Chevrolet immediately called 911, and began tailing the intoxicated Astorga. When he came onto Willow Avenue, he crashed into a concrete median and the SUV skidded around 300 feet. Right in his path was the young family on their bicycles.

According to police, the family had absolutely no time or chance to avoid the SUV. The collision, when it occurred, was severe. The mother of the girl, identified as Glenda, was left hanging onto the side of the SUV and eventually rolled off. Her one-year-old son and husband, William Dean Dinoso, have been also seriously injured. The girl, Josslyn, was taken to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, where she was declared dead from injuries sustained in the bicycle accident. It was the driver of the Chevrolet who narrowly escaped becoming Astorga's first victim in the rear end collision who informed police that the drunk driver had hit a family.

When emergency workers arrived at the scene, they found a barely coherent Astorga. Initial reports confirm that he was so out of it when the police came, he wasn't aware that he'd managed to kill a child and destroy a family. He wasn't injured in the drunk driving accident, and has been booked for vehicular manslaughter and charges of driving while intoxicated.

Meanwhile, the scene of the accident was a terrible sight. The bicycles had been ripped apart, with tires and seats torn off the bicycle. Footwear was strewn about, and even pieces of the SUV, which had suffered a little damage on impact, were scattered about the scene. For a bicycle accident to rip pieces off a SUV, the force of impact must have been tremendous. There has been no confirmation about Astorga's speed at the time of the drunk driving accident, but police confirm that it was higher than the stipulated 35 mph.

We wonder what sort of justice would be fitting to Astorga. People like him cause such needless havoc on the streets, and often manage to get away with just a light slap on the wrist, if that. Fortunately, when the criminal courts take a not-too-serious view of such acts of violence, there are civil courts to step in. Astroga probably has more than just DUI charges coming at him.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of bicycle accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.


The California personal injury attorneys at The Reeves Law Group represent victims of accidents, injuries and wrongful death throughout California from our offices in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, Ventura County, Fresno County, Kern County, Sacramento County, San Fernando Valley, Long Beach, Antelope Valley, Torrance, Glendale, Bakersfield, Santa Ana, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Ontario, and Victorville.