MORONGO VALLEY PEDESTRIAN HIT AND KILLED CROSSING HIGHWAY

A Morongo Valley man was hit and killed while trying to walk across the highway last night. According to the California Highway Patrol, Gerald Cross, 64, was crossing State Route 62 northbound at Lanning Lane, toward the Country Market, in Morongo Valley at 9:45 p.m. Melvin Smith Jr., 50, of Yucca Valley, was driving his 2003 Dodge Neon eastbound in the number 1 lane, at 60 miles per hour. Investigators say Cross, who was wearing dark clothing at night on an unlit highway, did not yield the right-of-way to Smith’s vehicle. The impact from Smith’s Neon threw Cross into the air. Smith pulled over to render assistance to Cross, but the CHP said that Gerald Cross sustained fatal injuries from the collision.