Woman killed after getting out of her stalled car on freeway
Personal Injury News
Article Date: 10/7/2009 | Resource: MLG
Woman killed after getting out of her stalled car on freeway
“She’s hit twice by same truck after stepping out of her car; 4 vehicles involved in collisions.”
A woman who stepped out of her car after it apparently stalled on the freeway was hit by a pickup truck Tuesday night, setting off a series of crashes involving four cars and three injuries on the 55 freeway, authorities said.
The pedestrian was thrown into the air, then hit a second time by a driver who appeared to have changed lanes to avoid crashing into her stopped car, said California Highway Patrol officer Jennifer Hink.
The woman was taken to a nearby hospital to be treated but pronounced dead a short time after.
Authorities said Magdalena Wojciechowska, a 25-year-old resident of Santa Ana, was driving southbound on the 55 freeway, just north of Santa Clara Avenue, when her 1991 Volvo became disabled at 9:25 p.m.
Wojciechowska allegedly stepped out of her car and was standing in the far left lane of the freeway, just left of her car, when a man driving pickup truck approached the stopped car.
Richard Viramontes, a 32-year-old man from Long Beach, was driving a 2004 Toyota Tacoma when he saw the stopped car ahead of him, Hink said. Viramontes changed lanes to his left, to avoid the car, but instead hit Wojciechowska.
“She was thrown in the air and struck again by the same vehicle,” Hink said.
Shortly afterward, Sandra Herrera, 47, of Tustin, crashed her Ford Escort into the stopped Volvo, Hink said, sending the Volvo toward the right shoulder of the freeway and causing it to burst into flames.
A fourth car, driven by Bertha Davis, 55, then hit the back of the Escort.
About 20 firefighters from the Orange County Fire Authority and the City of Orange Fire Department responded to the crash, as well as several CHP officers, said Capt. Greg McKeown of the OCFA.
Paramedics performed CPR on Wojciechoska on the scene, he said. Herrera and Davis were reported to have suffered minor injuries.
The three women were taken to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana to be treated, McKeown said. Wojciechowska was pronounced dead at the hospital.
CHP officials are still investigating the crash.
For more information regarding this article please contact:
Jeffrey Marquart
(949)589-0150
jmarquart@marquartlawgroup.com