Van Hits Disabled Car; Woman Dies, 2 Sons Hurt

A Tujunga woman was killed and two of her sons were injured when a large commercial van slammed into her disabled car on the westbound Foothill Freeway on Thursday morning, the California Highway Patrol said.

Mery Argueta Miranda, 43, was pronounced dead at Pacifica of the Valley Hospital in Sun Valley at 1 p.m., said Scott Carrier, spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. She was wearing a seat belt, officials said.

Miranda’s 5-year-old son was in the seat next to her and suffered a laceration above an eye, said Officer Vince Bell of the CHP Altadena office, who added that the boy is believed to have been wearing a seat belt. The woman’s 16-month-old twin sons were sitting in the back seats and both were strapped in child seats, he said.

One of twins was taken to Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, where he was listed in fair condition, a spokesman said. The other twin was uninjured.

Miranda’s Oldsmobile Cutlass was stopped in one of the slower lanes west of Wheatland Avenue when the nursery company van rear-ended it at 11:30 a.m., Bell said.

Investigators did not know why the car was stopped, he added.

The van driver, Arturo Suarez, 42, of Bloomington, was unable to brake in time to avoid hitting the car, Bell said. Suarez, who was uninjured, was not cited, he said.