Man killed in Route 56 crash ID’d as Poway High grad

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Authorities released the name today of a 22-year-old San Diego man killed in a possible DUI collision in Rancho Penasquitos while on his way to a family funeral.

Nick Hart, a 2009 Poway High grad, was heading west on State Route 56 when an eastbound 2002 Range Rover SUV veered across a center median and smashed head-on into his 2010 Toyota Scion near Black Mountain Road about 9:40 a.m. Thursday, according to the county Medical Examiner’s Office and California Highway Patrol.

Hart, who worked at a Trader Joe’s market in Scripps Ranch, died in the wreckage of his car.

Medics took the other motorist, 18-year-old Timothy Barnette of San Diego, to a La Jolla trauma center for treatment of severe injuries, CHP public-affairs Officer Jake Sanchez said. He remained hospitalized this afternoon.

Investigators suspect that Barnette was under the influence of some type of medication or other controlled substance at the time of the crash, and criminal charges may be filed against him, the spokesman said.

Hart, a former Cal State San Marcos student, was en route to a relative’s memorial service at the time of his death, a family member told KFMB-TV.