Pickup Smashes Into House, Killing Woman

A pickup truck driven by a suspected drunk driver whose license had been suspended slammed into a Woodland Hills home early Monday, fatally injuring a 68-year-old British woman in her bed, police reported.

Diana Frush was pronounced dead on arrival at Humana Hospital West Hills, Los Angeles police said. Frush was visiting the home of her daughter and son-in-law in the 22900 block of Calabash Street near Rigoletto Street when the pickup, driven by Andrew Stapley, crashed into the house about 6:30 a.m., Officer Lee Holloman said.

Stapley, 21, was driving south on Rigoletto, which forms a T-intersection with Calabash, when he lost control of the vehicle, ran over the curb and careened into the house, Holloman said.

“The whole truck was completely inside of her bedroom,” Holloman said. “The back bumper of the pickup truck was flush with the north wall of the home.”

Frush was sleeping on a small sofa bed near the north side of the house, Holloman said. “The sofa bed was completely demolished,” he said. “She was pushed all the way across the room.”

Stapley, of Woodland Hills, was arrested on charges of manslaughter while driving under the influence of alcohol, Holloman said. Stapley’s driver’s license had been suspended last year because of speeding tickets and had not been reinstated, the investigator said.

Stapley, who was not injured, was being held at the Van Nuys Division Jail and bail was set at $20,000, police said.

Frush’s daughter, Susan Feller, and Feller’s husband, James, were asleep when the accident occurred. “I heard screeching, then a thump and then the house shook,” James Feller said. “I heard her screaming for help.”

Susan Feller expressed horror that such an accident could occur on Calabash and Rigoletto, residential streets with little traffic.

Stapley, who lives just a few blocks away on Avenue San Luis, works as a waiter at a Calabasas restaurant. He told police that “he had been drinking after work,” said Holloman, who arrested Stapley.

“He was toasted,” Holloman said. “He needed assistance to get into the police car. He was totally drunk.”

After the accident, Susan Feller said she saw Stapley “staggering around our front yard--obviously intoxicated. . . . I don’t think he even realized that the street ended and he drove into someone’s home.”

Holloman said Stapley apparently ran a stop sign at the intersection before crashing into the Fellers’ house. But Holloman said it did not appear Stapley exceeded the 25 m.p.h. speed limit.

“By the impact and the distance that he traveled, it doesn’t seem that he had stopped at the sign,” Holloman said. “I just surmised that he was tooting along at normal speed and he just continued past the sign into the house.”

The Fellers’ 6-year-old daughter was in a bedroom adjacent to Frush’s but was not hurt.

Susan Feller has lived in the United States for about 20 years and during that time had seen her parents about once a year until her father died in London 18 months ago. Since then, she said, her mother had alternately stayed with her family and with another relative in Las Vegas. She had planned to go back to England at the end of the month.

“I just feel lucky that I’ve had the chance to get to know her as an adult these past few months,” Susan Feller said. “She fit in to our home wonderfully--we all got along so well. She came here from England not knowing anyone and she made lots of friends.”