A California man lay down in front of a car his friend was driving away from his birthday party and was killed just after midnight Sunday, San Diego 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, near the San Diego suburb of Sorrento Valley.
Merkley was trying to prevent the woman from leaving the hotel. He walked into the path of her BMW and lay down in front of the moving car, according to San Diego Police Sgt. Tom Sullivan.
The woman allegedly 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 late Sunday morning, according to Sullivan.
