Local News in Brief : Wreck Kills Girl, 15; Truck Driver, 18, Held
An 18-year-old Northern California man has been jailed on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a 15-year-old girl killed in an accident on the Golden State Freeway in Castaic, the California Highway Patrol said Thursday.
The victim, Carol Laidler of the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights, was killed Wednesday night when she was thrown from a truck that went out of control as the truck’s driver, Hiram Monge, tried to pass a car south of Templin Highway, Officer Lujuanna Lopez said. Monge, also of Citrus Heights, was being held at Los Angeles County Jail in lieu of $2,500 bail.
Lopez said Monge had been drinking and was driving about 65 m.p.h. Monge’s truck swerved, hit the center divider and overturned several times, Lopez said, throwing Laidler from the passenger seat. She died at the scene.
Monge was treated for cuts and bruises at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia before being jailed.
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