Local News in Brief : Driver Arrested After Woman Falls Out of Car on Freeway

A woman who accepted what was to be a short ride from a stranger in Canoga Park on Monday night wound up lying injured on the Santa Ana Freeway in Commerce, and the man suspected of pushing her out of the moving car was arrested, authorities said Tuesday.

Investigators still are trying to sort out what happened, but Apolonia Reyes, 22, of Canoga Park, apparently intended to accept a short ride from Paul Keegan, 30, of Studio City, sometime Monday evening, Sheriff’s Sgt. David Tellez said. Instead, Keegan drove his Corvette onto a freeway, Tellez said. When the car reached the southbound Santa Ana Freeway north of Washington Boulevard about 8 p.m., Reyes and Keegan struggled, and Reyes fell or was pushed from the car as it was traveling about 55 m.p.h., Tellez said.

Reyes landed in the freeway’s slow lane and her momentum carried her to the shoulder. She was hospitalized with severe cuts and bruises, Tellez said.

Several witnesses stopped to help Reyes, Sgt. Merlyn Poppleton said. Keegan, meanwhile, left the freeway at Washington Boulevard at high speed with his lights off, attracting the attention of a patrol deputy, who stopped the car, Poppleton said.

As the deputy questioned Keegan, a truck driver approached and said the driver of the Corvette “had just thrown a person out of the moving vehicle on the freeway,” Poppleton said.

After driving onto the freeway and discovering the crowd attending to Reyes, the deputy arrested Keegan on suspicion of attempted rape and attempted murder, Poppleton said. Keegan was being held without bail in the East Los Angeles sheriff’s substation.