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Templeton man killed in crash, 3 others injured

August 2, 2015

CHP@A 77-year-old Templeton man died in a car crash on Highway 41 near Morro Bay Saturday afternoon that injured an additional three people.

At about 2 p.m., Nicholas Bundren, 24, of Atascadero, was driving a Ford Fusion west on Highway 41 east of Mission Drive when he drove into the oncoming lane, directly into the path of a Mercury Grand Marquis driven by the 77-year-old. The Templeton man, whose name has not been released, was pronounced dead at the hospital, and his passenger Jane Mercer, 64, also of Templeton, sustained minor injuries.

Emergency medical personnel transported Bundren to the hospital where he is being treated for major injuries.

The driver of a third vehicle, Richard Gentil, 27, of Los Osos, swerved to miss the crash before Bundren’s car crashed into the side of his vehicle. Gentil sustained minor injuries.


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Tom Mercer RIP. He was one of the good guys.


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Vehicle manufacturers need to be sued. So does the DMV for allowing this young man to have a license. We need better background checks and yearly mental checks for drivers. We also need to ban alcohol so this doesn’t happen to anyone again. We also need stronger language in the laws than ban illegal drugs. Illegal drugs are bad so we need to make sure everyone knows they are illegal.


Nicholas Bundren was my daughters best friends cousin’s boyfriend and was a nice guy. Its not his fault GM, DMV, Budweiser, and Pfizer are so irresponsible!


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One of the best posts ever on this site. Brilliant!


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Check out NIck Bundrens facebook…..https://www.facebook.com/nick.bundren


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Didn’t check previous posts!! sorry!


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References to ‘trying’ to be sober. Well, it’s too late now. Just great.


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If you want to get some insight into the driver’s background, look up The Facebook profile for Nick Bundren. I don’t know whether he was drunk or on drugs, but most of his posts refer to one or both.


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Good bird-dogging, OldNed! Pointing out DUI Checkpoints, “Bar-Time” comments. A real treat this lost soul seems to be. And now he goes and kills someone because he’s driving like a douchebag! I hope the punk suffers. Wishful thinking as he’ll be out and committing another offense in short order, I bet.


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We all know he will for sure be out and may not spend another day is jail if he has the “right friends” or is from the “right family”.


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https://www.facebook.com/nick.bundren?fref=ts


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I think that there were some posts that could possibly be described as depressed or suicidal


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WOW!!!! Does the guy live for ANYTHING other than drinking?


If it is found that he was DUI, would be interesting to see if a prosecutor would use his Facebook page in a trial.


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My father was a trauma surgeon. He taught us that the slowest way to get where you’re going is to take that long detour through the Emergency Room.


There are too many people who have more horsepower than brains. The biggest problem is that so many innocent people suffer because of these person’s stupidity and reckless behavior. I’d bet a week’s pay that the guy was high on drugs or drunk. He should never be allowed to drive ever again after he gets out of prison.


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I believe you forgot one other possibility….texting while driving. This is a scourge and more needs to be done to discourage people from doing it. There is a young man that, without fail, is looking at his phone every time he rolls past my house. I will soon be asking him what social engagement, tweet, or Mark Zuckerburg sponsored post, is more important than my (or your) kid’s life.


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Yea I thought it was a good idea when they made it no driving and texting but was on fence on phone calls. Now I’m to the point, I say make it all illegal. It takes the second guessing out of are they texting or driving and basically if you have a phone in your hand no guess, it is not suppose to be.


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You can make laws all days long, it doesn’t change anything. Do you see a reduction in distracted driving by phone users/texters? Not a chance, it’s increasing exponentially.


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Yea but by that reasoning should we make drinking and driving o.k? Yes you won’t and don’t get all but you will get some and get others to think about it.


Life is flawed and not perfect but you have to try.


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Ever apply that logic to gun laws? It may seem apples and oranges at this point, but essentially the ideas are the same: regulate or make illegal certain things, but there will always be an element that does not abide by the laws… however, people usually respond with one of two things: more laws or banning.


Should we ban cellphones and other hand-held communication devices? Or is the cellphone to the First Amendment what a gun is to the Second?


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The driver of the Ford Fusion deserves to be charged with willful manslaughter.


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Murder, not manslaughter. Let’s call it for what it is.


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I heard the Sheriff’s radio traffic about this, appears this Fusion driver had been speeding and passing multiple cars at the same time just before the crash. I hope they throw the book at him, if he recovers, and I am ambivalent about that.


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I’m on that road at least 10 times a week and it happens all the time. Not scientific, but it seems to increase when Cuesta is in session, particularly in the morning.


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People just don’t learn. I was on the road there about an hour after my first reply here. Somebody in a bronzeish KIA Sorento was passing multiple cars heading west towards Morro Bay. An oncoming (eastbound) Toyota PU had to slow down to allow the KIA to complete his stupid passing. As a side note, some of these incidents wouldn’t occur if drivers who aren’t comfortable with driving anywhere near the speed limit, would pull over and let the lines of cars following, go past them.Motor Vehicle Code 21656, states that on two lane roadways, when passing on the left side is unsafe, the slow traveling vehicle, with five vehicles behind it, must turn into a designated turnaround, in order to let the other vehicles pass by.


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