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Man jailed as boat detaches on road in Jamul, killing driver

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Posted at 7:40 PM, Feb 07, 2022
and last updated 2022-02-07 22:49:13-05

SAN DIEGO (CNS) — The wife of interim San Diego Harbor Police Chief Kirk Nichols was identified Monday as the woman killed when a boat fell off a trailer being towed on a rural road in Jamul and crashed into the car she was driving.

Jennifer Nichols, 49, of Bonita, died at Sharp Memorial Hospital on Saturday night, about three hours after the accident, according to the California Highway Patrol and county Medical Examiner's Office.

The victim's husband was riding in the car she was driving at the time of the crash and suffered minor injuries, CHP spokesman Travis Garrow said.

The fatal wreck occurred shortly before 6:30 p.m., when the boat trailer became detached from the back of a 2000 Mazda B300 pickup truck being driven by a 28-year-old Northern California man on Honey Springs Road.

The boat then fell off the trailer, slid across the roadway and collided with the Nichols' 2016 Fiat 500, which was traveling eastbound on state Route 94, Garrow said.

The pickup truck driver, Robert Keith Thomas of Jamestown, was unhurt, Garrow said. Thomas was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.