Local News in Brief : Wife Killed, Husband Arrested in Truck Crash Near Tujunga

A Sunland woman was killed, and her husband was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and felony drunk driving Saturday after the couple’s pickup truck went over a cliff in Angeles National Forest north of Tujunga, authorities said.

The crash down the 40- to 50-foot cliff happened between midnight and 3 a.m. on Big Tujunga Canyon Road about two miles north of Tujunga, California Highway Patrol Officer Ed Zubyk said.

Linda Yamada, 35, was thrown from the pickup and killed, Zubyk said.

Shortly before 9:30 a.m., a U.S. Forest Service ranger came across the accident scene and saw her husband, Brice Yamada, 29, standing nearby, Zubyk said.

Yamada at first “denied he had anything to do with the accident.” But, during questioning by a CHP officer, he said he was the driver, Zubyk said.

Yamada displayed “physical symptoms of intoxication,” the officer said, declining to specify them. A blood sample from Yamada is undergoing tests Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, where he is in serious condition with multiple cuts and bruises.

The CHP is continuing its investigation, Zubyk said. Preliminary investigation indicated that Yamada was heading west on Big Tujunga Canyon Road when he drifted to the right shoulder, then overcompensated to the left, going over the south edge of the road and down the cliff, Zubyk said.