Crash probed as deliberate
In 2001, driver tried to get police to kill him during standoff
By J. Harry Jones
STAFF WRITER
May 10, 2007
POWAY – Sheriff's deputies are investigating whether a head-on collision that seriously injured two people yesterday morning on state Route 67 was the result of an intentional act by a man who six years ago tried to commit suicide by cop.
JOHN GASTALDO / Union-Tribune
Elizabeth Miranda consoled her son Oscar yesterday on the shoulder of state Route 67 after his pickup was hit by a Toyota Tacoma that collided head on with a Hummer moments before, severely injuring two motorists. The Toyota also hit a third car on a stretch north of Chapparal Way.
Authorities said the crash, which closed Route 67 for three hours, was caused by 60-year-old Ronald Paul Boord, whose Toyota Tacoma collided with a black Hummer in the oncoming lane.
Boord and the driver of the Hummer were seriously injured in the crash, which also involved two other vehicles.
Poway sheriff's Deputy Robert Gibson said it appears the collision was either the result of driving under the influence – several medications were found in Boord's truck, including methadone – was intentional or both. If intentional, it would become a criminal case, he said.
On April 30, 2001, Boord, a Vietnam veteran, shot up his van in Encinitas, then held a gun to his head for three hours while negotiating with a SWAT team. He wanted to be killed by SWAT snipers to end the mental torture he suffered from flashbacks, according to court documents.
Union-Tribune file photo
Ronald Paul Boord, who authorities said caused yesterday's collision, is seen in a 2001 standoff with police in Encinitas.
Then a Cardiff resident and avid surfer, Boord, known in the surfing community as “Captain Ron,†told deputies during the standoff he wanted them to shoot him because his Christian faith prevented him from committing suicide.
Boord served just over a year as a Marine sniper in the Vietnam War and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and bouts of depression, according to court documents.
His attorney in 2001 said Boord was depressed partly because a back injury prevented him from surfing.
In addition to flashbacks, Boord was haunted by nightmares, according to a probation officer who described him as “a belated casualty of the Vietnam War.â€
Boord twice emptied a .45-caliber handgun into his camouflage-painted van parked outside his apartment, then waited for neighbors to call authorities. He finally surrendered after talking to a SWAT commander, and was later placed on three years' probation.
Yesterday's crash happened about 10:15 a.m., authorities said. Boord was headed toward Ramona in the northbound lanes when his pickup swerved into oncoming traffic as it rounded a curve about a half-mile north of Chaparral Way.
The Tacoma struck the left front of a black Hummer, causing serious damage to both vehicles.
The Tacoma then continued down the road in the wrong lane, striking two other vehicles, including a pickup driven by Oscar Miranda, a student heading from his home in Ramona to Mesa College.
“The Tacoma hit the Hummer head-on, then fishtailed,†Miranda said.
Miranda said he was able to stop a moment before the Tacoma ran into his truck. He was not hurt.
The driver of the Hummer, whose name was not released, was taken by ambulance to Pomerado Hospital in Poway with moderate to serious injuries. Boord, who lives in Ramona, had to be extracted from his pickup and was taken by helicopter to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido suffering from serious internal injuries and a broken leg.
Whatever the cause of yesterday's accident, it was the latest in an increasing number on Route 67 in recent years.
Since the beginning of 2005, 23 people have died on the road between Lakeside and Ramona, parts of which are narrow and curvy. In the previous five years, there were 21 deaths.
From Jan. 1, 2003, to Dec. 31, 2005, there were 860 accidents. Figures for 2006 and 2007 were not available.
This month, a public awareness campaign was launched by the California Department of Transportation to encourage drivers to obey the speed limit on Route 67 – unsafe speed has been an element in most of the accidents – and the California Highway Patrol has recently increased its patrols.
Caltrans spokesman Edward Cartagena said the highway has remained unchanged over the past decade. He attributed the rise in serious accidents to bad driving, additional traffic caused by Ramona's growing population and possibly an increase in casino traffic. Recently, some people have lobbied Caltrans to install concrete barriers in the center of parts of the road to prevent head-on collisions. Greg Payne, whose 21-year-old son, Casey, died Nov. 13 in a head-on collision not far from yesterday's crash, said a barrier might have saved his son's life.
But Cartagena said studies show such barriers can cause more accidents.
“They would prevent head-on collisions, but we would have more hits as cars slam into a barrier, then a mountainside,†he said.
Cartagena said options are being analyzed but that Caltrans is not going “to make a rash decision.â€
J. Harry Jones: (760) 737-7579; jharry.jones@uniontrib.com
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