12-Hour Span of Accidents Leaves 3 Dead, Several Hurt

Three people were killed and several others were critically injured in a spate of crashes late Monday and early Tuesday that officials said had no obvious causes beyond tragic human error.

“For whatever reason, it wasn’t real safe behind the wheel out there,” said Angel Johnson, a California Highway Patrol spokeswoman. “And it’s especially strange to have that many major collisions and not make any arrests.”

While most accidents can be blamed on alcohol, speeding or inclement weather, authorities said none of those causes seemed to apply to the more than five injury crashes that clogged Orange County roadways within 12 hours. Lanes were closed for hours on Pacific Coast Highway and the Costa Mesa and San Diego freeways as officials investigated three crashes.

“It is unbelievable out there,” CHP Officer Michelle Dimaggio said. “And it’s not even raining.”

The string of collisions began about 7 p.m. Monday, when a 70-year-old Garden Grove woman was hit by a pickup as she attempted to cross Westminster Boulevard near Buena Street. Lt. John Woods said the woman, whose name was not released, “darted out into the flow of traffic.” The driver was not speeding.

Forty-five minutes later, a 23-year-old Rowland Heights woman cut across two lanes of the northbound Costa Mesa Freeway, trying to make the exit to the Garden Grove Freeway, the CHP said.

Roxann Monson drove into a concrete barrier and spun back into the carpool lane, where her vehicle was hit by another car. Neither speed nor alcohol was a factor in the crash, authorities said. Monson was listed in critical condition at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana late Tuesday.

A second fatality occurred about 10:15 p.m. in the southbound lanes of the San Diego Freeway at Jamboree Road. The CHP said Charles Shaw, 30, of Spring Valley tried to reach his exit and lost control, flipping his Ford Bronco on its roof. He died at the scene. A second driver, Alan Sasaki, 33, of Irvine, veered to the right of the road to avoid Shaw’s vehicle and hit an emergency call box. He was not injured.

Also in Irvine, a passenger with critical injuries was trapped nearly an hour in a car that had struck a pole at Main Street and MacArthur Boulevard about 1:20 a.m., police said. The woman suffered multiple compound fractures and was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange, police said. The driver was not seriously injured.

Authorities are asking for help in identifying a third fatal-accident victim who was struck by a car as she walked down the middle of Pacific Coast Highway between Newland and Magnolia streets in Huntington Beach about 4:40 a.m. Tuesday. The woman was described as white, between 35 and 45 years old, about 5 feet 1, 137 pounds, with brown, shoulder-length hair. She wore a faded maroon T-shirt, blue jeans and a gold wedding band on her left ring finger, authorities said. She was barefoot. The driver was not cited.

Anyone with information is asked to call Deputy Coroner Joseph Luckey at (714) 647-7410.