Tustin : Woman, 77, Dies After Swerving Into Traffic

A 77-year-old woman died Sunday evening after she apparently suffered a heart attack behind the wheel of her car and swerved into oncoming traffic, injuring three people, police said.

Police said Emma R. Conley of Tustin was driving southbound on Williams Street, just north of Alliance Avenue at 7:30 p.m. when her 1978 Audi suddenly accelerated to about 50 m.p.h. and veered into northbound traffic lanes.

Conley’s car collided head-on with a 1971 Ford Maverick driven by a 17-year-old Santa Ana girl, Police Sgt. Mike Shanahan said.

Paramedics and police attempted to revive Conley using cardiopulmonary resuscitation but were unsuccessful, police records clerk Diane Barley said. Conley was pronounced dead at the scene, she said.

Investigators said Conley, who had a history of heart trouble, suffered an apparent heart attack while behind the wheel, causing the accident. “Her actions seemed to be consistent with that kind of medical problem,” Sgt. Shanahan said.

Initially, paramedics believed that Conley had died as a result of the heart attack rather than her injuries, Shanahan said. However, a spokesman for the county coroner’s office said Monday that Conley appeared to have died from injuries sustained in the accident. He said that her death would be listed as a “traffic fatality,” and that he could not confirm that she suffered a heart attack.

The passengers in the Maverick--Anthony Fernando, 18, of Tustin and two 17-year-old Santa Ana girls whose names were withheld because of their age--were taken to Western Medical Center, where they were treated for minor injuries and released, Shanahan said.

Shanahan said the collision occurred after the Maverick had come to a complete halt at a stop sign.