2-Car Crash on South O.C. Toll Road Kills Woman, 65
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A 65-year-old woman was killed Tuesday morning when a car went through the median on the Foothill-Eastern toll road in Rancho Santa Margarita and slammed into her Lexus sedan, the CHP said.
Nancy Donahue-Reddish of San Clemente died at the scene, a spokesman for the coroner said.
The driver of the other car, Javier Hernandez Nelso, 29, was arrested on suspicion of felony manslaughter, California Highway Patrol Officer Chris Goodwin said.
He suffered major injuries and was taken to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo.
Witnesses told the CHP that Nelso, of Moreno Valley, was speeding south around 7:20 a.m. when he lost control of his gray Mercury Sable and drove into the dirt center divider.
He then accelerated into oncoming traffic and crashed head-on into Donahue-Reddish’s car, according to the CHP.
Nelso’s passenger, Victor Javier Lopez, 26, also of Moreno Valley, was airlifted to Mission Hospital and was in critical condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.
The CHP does not suspect that drugs or alcohol were a factor in the crash, Officer Katrina Lundgren said.
Investigators closed the highway’s northbound lanes, just south of Antonio Parkway, for about three hours, Lundgren said.
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