Truck Driver in Fatal Crash Arrested
The driver of a tractor-trailer rig whom police say ran a red light and killed a 16-year-old Oxnard mother at the wheel of her car near Camarillo has been arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter.
Nathan Dean Benton, 35, of Alicia, Ark., was taken into custody after Friday’s crash at Las Posas Road and East Fifth Street, said a California Highway Patrol spokesman.
Authorities on Saturday identified the victim as Marigold A. Allen. Slick roads prevented Allen from successfully braking to avoid the truck’s trailer and she died instantly, said Craig Stevens, senior deputy coroner with the Ventura County coroner’s office.
The trailer dragged the car about 70 yards before stopping, he said.
Allen’s 19-year-old husband, Michael Patrick Allen II, was treated for minor injuries after the 2:30 p.m. wreck. The couple’s 16-month-old son, Michael, was in a child-safety seat in the rear of the vehicle and escaped unscathed, Stevens said.
Allen is the fifth person to die since Monday on Ventura County roads, Stevens said. “This is a little higher [toll] than we’ve seen in the recent past,” he said.
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