Driver Killed in Wrong-Way Crash on Route 52

A woman crashed her pickup truck head-on into a Volkswagen Beetle while driving the wrong way on state Route 52 Saturday morning, fatally injuring the vehicle’s male driver, according to authorities.

April Thompson, 23, of National City, was booked into the Las Colinas Detention Facility for suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

She was jailed after the 12:58 a.m. crash east of Mast Boulevard, a CHP dispatcher said.

The victim was identified as Jayme Alan Midlam, 25, of the Clairemont neighborhood in San Diego.

Midlam was driving his white 1972 Volkswagen Beetle east on Route 52 approaching Mast Boulevard when his car was destroyed by a Chevy 2500 pickup truck heading west in the eastbound lanes, the county Medical Examiner said.

“The driver of the Volkswagen was fatally injured on impact,” the CHP dispatcher said. “The driver of the Chevrolet suffered moderate injuries and was placed under arrest after being treated at Sharp Memorial Hospital.”

Midlam was pronounced dead at the scene.

Thompson was booked into Las Colinas after being released from the hospital.

Traffic was rerouted via the Mast Boulevard exit following the crash, which closed eastbound Route 52 for several hours.

-City News Service