SANTA ANA : Marine Killed in Crash Is Identified
California Highway Patrol officials on Monday identified a 22-year-old Marine who died when he was thrown from his motorcycle on the Costa Mesa Freeway on Sunday as Albert Lopez of Paradox, Colo.
Lopez, a lance corporal with a helicopter squad at the Tustin U.S. Marine Corps Helicopter Air Station, was run over by a big rig truck in a four-vehicle accident.
Lopez, driving at a “high rate of speed,” moved from the northbound Santa Ana Freeway to the Costa Mesa Freeway and tried to pass a blue Volvo in the slow lane, CHP spokeswoman Linda Burrus said. The motorcycle hit the left rear of the Volvo, throwing Lopez into the middle of the freeway, she said.
The driver of the big rig swerved to avoid Lopez but couldn’t, Burrus said.
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