A man was struck and killed early Saturday after he was found lying in the road near East Main Street and Jamacha Road in El Cajon, according to police. The man, whose identity has not been released, was run over by a westbound vehicle around 4:43 a.m. and later died at a hospital.
El Cajon police said the reason the man was lying in the road was unclear, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. Investigators said the driver who struck him cooperated with authorities, and portions of the roadway were closed for several hours while officers worked the scene.
Investigation Continues as Few Details Emerge
Beyond the collision's time and location, police have released little information about what happened. No determination about the man's identity, the driver, or what led him to be in the roadway has been made public. El Cajon police are asking anyone with information about the collision to call (619) 579-3311.
The crash adds to a string of recent pedestrian deaths in El Cajon. Earlier this month, a woman was killed while crossing South Mollison Avenue near East Washington Avenue, and the driver fled the scene without stopping, per a previous Hoodline report on that hit-and-run. That same report noted a 74-year-old man was struck and killed near East Chase Avenue and South Mollison Avenue in August, in a case where the driver stayed at the scene and cooperated with officers, and that a pedestrian pushing a shopping cart was killed in a hit-and-run near East Chase and Avocado avenues in August 2025, a case investigators cracked using automated license plate readers.
A Pattern of Danger on Local Roads
El Cajon's pedestrian safety troubles extend beyond Mollison Avenue. A 70-year-old man died in September after he was struck by a Mercedes while stepping off a curb on El Cajon Boulevard in North Park, the same corridor where three intersections landed on San Diego's 2025 Fatal 15 list of the city's most dangerous spots for pedestrians and cyclists, according to the Times of San Diego. Between 2015 and 2025, 18 crashes along that boulevard resulted in serious injury or death to pedestrians and cyclists, the outlet reported.
Citywide, the numbers paint a grim picture. According to 2023 data from the California Office of Traffic Safety, 572 people were killed or injured in traffic collisions in El Cajon that year, ranking the city 11th among 62 California cities of comparable size. Separately, the El Cajon Police Department has said it investigated 28 fatal and 365 injury collisions involving pedestrians and bicyclists over a recent three-year span.
Jamacha Road's Long History of Crashes
The stretch of roadway where Saturday's crash occurred has its own troubled history. For years, residents along Jamacha Road have dealt with speeding traffic, frequent crashes, and in some cases, vehicles crashing into homes, according to 10News. One resident told the station that a vehicle crashed into the back of her home last May, damaging her patio, though no one was hurt.
In response to those long-standing complaints, the city has installed a metal beam guardrail along part of Jamacha Road and outlined plans for rumble strips and additional guardrails along other stretches, 10News reported. Those safety upgrades remain a work in progress as police continue to investigate what led to Saturday's fatal collision.
