Passenger Killed, 4 Others Injured in Collision

A driver was critically injured and his passenger killed Thanksgiving Day when their car was broadsided by a van that a witness said was “swerving all over the road” just before the crash.

Paramedics said the van’s driver, a 58-year-old Newhall woman, was suffering from low blood sugar and that there was no indication that alcohol was a factor in the collision, said Sgt. Larry Mead of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Lancaster Station.

The van driver, identified as Deanna J. Almy, and her passenger, a girl about 8, suffered minor injuries and were taken to Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center, said Capt. Ed Loney of the county Fire Department.

Shortly before the 2:03 p.m. crash occurred, a witness called 911 from a cellular phone to report that the van, traveling westbound on Avenue J at 160th Street East, was swerving back and forth, according to Mead. The accident happened at 55th Street East.

“She just ran off the road on the right shoulder and hit a dirt embankment,” he said. “Then the driver came back to the road, skidded sideways and hit a gray Honda headed eastbound.”

The Honda, apparently carrying three members of a family, was totaled, and Loretta Graham, 59, of Lancaster, who was riding in the back seat and not wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the car and died at the scene, Mead said.

The Honda’s driver, Freddie Graham, 51, of Lake Los Angeles, was airlifted to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, where he was listed in critical condition last night, said Karen Klein, a nursing supervisor. Fifteen-year-old Jason Graham, who was a passenger in the car, was taken to Antelope Valley Hospital with minor injuries, Loney said.

A hospital spokeswoman declined to release information about Jason or the 8-year-old girl, because they are minors. She said Almy had been treated and released.

Also Thursday, the county coroner’s office released the name of the teenager killed Wednesday afternoon in a car accident in Palmdale.

Jose Becerra, a 16-year-old student at Littlerock High School, died when the car he was riding in swerved off the road and rolled over several times before landing in a desert field, authorities said. The car was full of teenagers who had apparently left school before the 12:45 p.m. crash.