A 58-year-old Lakewood woman died yesterday, April 27, as a result of injuries she sustained when her vehicle veered off the southbound lanes of Highway 101 just north of El Capitan State Beach. CHP Officer Matt Kenny arrived at the scene around 10:30 a.m. and performed first aid on the woman and a 60-year-old male passenger of a Chevy Outlander that drifted off the road to the right, turned onto its side, and then crashed into a utility pole not far from the Union Pacific railroad tracks that run along the highway. Both passengers were trapped in the vehicle. The woman was declared dead at the scene. The man, also a Lakewood resident, was transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
CHP spokesman Officer Dan Barba said a routine toxicology test will determine whether drugs or alcohol were a factor in the accident.