An Orange County man laid down in front of a car driven by his female friend, and was killed as the woman drove away from his birthday party just after midnight Sunday in the Sorrento Valley area, police said.
Jonathan Carlyle Merkley, of Garden Grove, was celebrating his 34th birthday night at the Staybridge Suites hotel, in the 6600 block of Mira Mesa Boulevard, at about 12:30 a.m.
Witnesses said both had been drinking alcohol with friends before the incident. The man was trying to prevent the woman from leaving, walked into the path of her BMW and laid down in front of the moving car, according to San
Diego Police Sgt. Tom Sullivan.
The woman did not stop, ran over the man and kept going. The victim suffered major trauma to his chest and died about 45 minutes later at a hospital, Sullivan said.
Police know the identity of the BMW driver, but she had not been arrested as of early Monday morning.
