SANTA MARIA VALLEY – A Santa Maria man has been identified as being killed in a deadly traffic accident involving the wife and son of local Congressional candidate Abel Maldonado.
It happened Monday afternoon at a notorious intersection in the eastern Santa Maria Valley farm fields.
The Santa Barbara County Coroner's office says 32 year old Joseph Scott Scheurn was killed after the car he was driving collided with an SUV at the intersection of Foxen Canyon and Dominion Roads.
The Cadillac Escalade was driven by Republican Congressional candidate Abel Maldonado's wife Laura with their 16 year old son Nicholas in the passenger seat.
The CHP's initial investigation is the car driven by Scheurn either failed to stop or yield to Maldonado's oncoming SUV at the intersection.
"The intersection is pretty dangerous", says local horsewoman Teri Heick who keeps her horse in stables near the intersection.
Heick says the Foxen Canyon-Dominion Road intersection is notorious for accidents noting there was another crash on Sunday.
"People come in off of Dominion down to the corner", Heick says, "it's kind of hard to see, almost, it looks like its pretty open, but its not and there have been a lot of accidents there."
Recent statistics on the number of vehicle collisions at the Foxen Canyon-Dominion Road intersection were not readily available but its well known to the CHP and other first responders.
"These are farm roads", Heick says, "we just have big equipment and tractors and people just don't realize that they can't stop on a dime, they are just traveling fast and people just pull out in front and things happen."
Abel Maldonado issued a statement about the accident involving Scheurn, his wife Laura and son Nicholas:
"Monday afternoon, my wife Laura and son were in a terrible car accident in Santa Maria. Our deepest condolences and sympathies are with the family of the victim. There are no words that can lift the burden of grief and sorrow his family and friends are experiencing right now.
"My wife and son were taken to a local hospital in Santa Maria and underwent precautionary tests and were released Monday evening and returned home. Again, the thoughts and prayers of our entire family are with his family and friends."
