Westminster Woman Killed in Crash

A 54-year-old Westminster woman was killed when the vehicle she was driving at speeds estimated at 100 m.p.h. down Brookhurst Street rear-ended another car and careened into two light posts, police said.

Police said Lydia Candelaria was driving her Nissan Stanza south on Brookhurst between Orangewood and Chapman avenues about 1 p.m. when she rammed into another car, forcing it over the center divider, where it rolled over and hit two cars traveling north.

Candelaria then appeared to accelerate, witnesses told police, striking first one light post, then another, where her car came to a stop, Garden Grove Sgt. Joe Johnson said.

The “jaws of life” were used to extract Candelaria, who was pronounced dead at the scene, Johnson said. An autopsy is scheduled for this morning.

The driver of the vehicle she hit, whose name was not released, was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange suffering from head injuries. The drivers of the other two vehicles suffered only minor injuries, he said.

Brookhurst Street was closed for an hour while the accident was cleared, Johnson said.

“We are continuing the investigation, but there’s no indication as to why” Candelaria was traveling so fast down the busy street, Johnson said.