LOCAL : Driver Held in Passenger’s Death
The California Highway Patrol arrested a Rialto man today on suspicion of felony drunk driving and manslaughter after his pickup truck plunged 80 feet down an embankment on the Orange Freeway, killing his passenger this morning, authorities said.
James Whiteside, 28, of Fullerton, was killed almost instantly, said CHP spokeswoman Angel Johnson.
The driver, Donavan Lee Thompson Jr., 24, suffered a broken shoulder and was treated at Placentia Linda Hospital. He was being held in the Orange County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail.
The accident occurred at about 4:35 a.m. today as the men headed south on the Orange Freeway. Johnson said the two apparently had met for the first time at a bar Sunday night.
Witnesses told CHP officers that the vehicle was traveling at about 90 m.p.h. and weaved between lanes south of Placentia Avenue. After swerving across the freeway, Thompson apparently lost control of the truck and drove over the right embankment and into a chain-link fence, the CHP said.
“The vehicle did not roll (over the embankment),” Johnson said. “It was airborne . . . It flew.”
The impact threw Whiteside partially through the windshield.
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