Driver suspected of DUI arrested in fatal Costa Mesa crash
A woman was killed in Costa Mesa after her car was broadsided by a suspected DUI motorist in a pickup truck fleeing an earlier hit-and-run collision, authorities said Sunday.
The incident occurred about 10 p.m. Saturday, when the driver of a 2012 Nissan pickup truck allegedly rear-ended a car stopped at Harbor Boulevard and Date Place, said Costa Mesa police Sgt. Cameron Phillips. The driver of that car was uninjured.
The pickup then sped northbound on Harbor and crashed into the driver’s side of a 2013 Kia Optima that was exiting an offramp of the San Diego Freeway. The victim of that car was pronounced dead at the scene.
The identity of the victim, a 23-year-old Irvine woman, was not released. A passenger in the Optima was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Phillips said.
The driver of the pick-up, Brandon Anthony Alvarez, 22, of Anaheim, was released from a hospital Sunday, Phillips said.
He was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter, Phillips said.
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