Woman Killed When Cycle, Pickup Collide
A 28-year-old Costa Mesa woman was killed and her passenger was seriously injured Saturday when their motorcycle crashed head-on into a pickup truck along Highway 76, authorities said.
Witnesses said that the driver, identified as Michelle Lynn Monge, 28, appeared to be inexperienced in handling the 1990 motorcycle, according to an account provided by the California Highway Patrol.
Her companion, Robert Maxwell, also an Orange County resident, was listed in serious condition with multiple fractures at Sharp Memorial Hospital.
The incident occurred at 1:25 p.m. as the two were riding in the rural Pala area, heading east on Highway 76. A few miles east of the intersection of Couser Canyon Road, authorities said, the motorcycle crossed the center line on a curve and collided with the pickup.
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