Driver dies after suffering medical emergency on I-15 near Bonsall

BONSALL - A man died after experiencing an apparent medical emergency that caused him to crash his car on Interstate 15 near Bonsall.

It happened a little after 6 p.m. Saturday near the Camino del Rey underpass, about a mile south of the Old Highway 395 exit, according to information from California Highway Patrol Officer Kevin Smale.

An 85-year-old man from San Jose was behind the wheel of a 2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser, heading north on I-15 in that area when he told his wife, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, that he was not feeling well, Smale said.

Shortly after that, the man lost consciousness and slumped over the steering wheel while the car was still moving.

The man's wife grabbed the steering wheel to try to control the SUV, but the car crashed first into the center divider guardrail, then swerved across all lanes of the freeway and came to rest down an embankment off the right-hand shoulder of the freeway, according to Smale.

Paramedics responded and found the wife "alert and well," Smale said. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, and the cause of death was not immediately known. The man was not publicly identified.