Woman Killed, Driver Arrested After Riverside Freeway Crash

An 18-year-old Rialto woman was killed and a motorist was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter Saturday when the car they were traveling in flipped on a freeway, rolled over several times and came to a stop in the center divider, authorities said.

The victim, Lajuan Thomas, was tossed from the car shortly after it began to roll on the Riverside Freeway, said a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol.

Thomas, one of two passengers in the 1988 Hyundai Excel, was riding in the right side of the front seat, said Rick McAnally, an Orange County coroner’s deputy. She was taken to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Anaheim where she died at 2:56 p.m., he said.

The driver, Marshall A. Williams Jr., 18, of Colton, was westbound on the freeway near Coal Canyon Road at 2:08 p.m. when the Hyundai drifted to the right and Williams then over-corrected to the left, causing the car to veer across two lanes and strike the center divider, the spokesman said. The car then rolled several times before it landed upright.

Several passing motorists stopped and attempted to aid Thomas until paramedics arrived, according to the CHP.

Williams was treated for minor injuries and then arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and booked into Orange County Jail, authorities said.

The other passenger also was treated for a minor injury, authorities said.