FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Crash Kills Woman After Birthday Party
A 28-year-old Anaheim woman who had just celebrated her birthday with friends died in an early morning car crash Friday.
Lori Hrifko spent Thursday evening celebrating with friends at a restaurant in Newport Beach and was driving her 1985 Nissan 300 SX, loaded with presents and flowers, home when she lost control and hit a tree at about 12:15 a.m., police said.
The woman was on the northbound San Diego Freeway off-ramp at Brookhurst Street when her car veered to the left, said California Highway Patrol Officer Lyle Whitten.
When she tried to straighten the car out, she overcompensated and ran off the right side, hitting a tree, Whitten said.
Police found a broken, unlit cigarette on the seat of the car and believe Hrifko may have been distracted trying to light it when she veered off the off-ramp.
“She was going much too fast in order to take that ramp safely,” Whitten said, estimating her speed at 55 m.p.h.
“It looks like something distracted her attention. She may have been reaching for a match when she hit the curb, then just overcompensated to the right. There was no other visible reason why she couldn’t have stayed in control,” Whitten said.
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