Wrong-Way Driver Faces 2 Death Counts

The district attorney’ office on Friday filed two counts of vehicular manslaughter against a Long Beach woman who authorities said caused a fatal accident last month when she drove the wrong way on the Golden State Freeway and crashed head-on into another car.

The Dec. 6 collision on the freeway near Griffith Park killed a Sun Valley couple, Lazaro Basallaje, 27, and his wife, Delia, 32, on their way home from church, and seriously injured three other church members and passengers in the couple’s car.

Julia Williams, 74, identified by the California Highway Patrol as the wrong-way driver, remains hospitalized in stable condition at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. A hospital spokeswoman said Williams has two broken legs and two broken hips.

CHP investigators said Williams, who was driving with an expired driver’s license, made a U-turn in the westbound lanes of the Ventura Freeway and took a transition link on to the Golden State Freeway while driving the wrong way.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Barton said Friday that the two felony manslaughter charges were filed against the woman because Williams appeared to have displayed “gross negligence” by making a U-turn on the freeway and driving more than two miles in the wrong direction. He said a conviction would carry a maximum sentence of eight years.

Neither Barton nor CHP investigators have interviewed Williams. A friend told investigators, however, that Williams had left her Long Beach home 12 hours before the collision to buy groceries. The accident occured 25 miles from her home.