A 44-year-old woman inspecting damage on her vehicle after accidentally running into a traffic control device on Interstate 215 in Murrieta was struck and killed by a suspected drunken driver who fled the scene but was later apprehended, authorities said Monday.
Gladys Cruz Maeda of Lake Elsinore was fatally hit at 2:30 a.m. Sunday on southbound I-215, just north of Murrieta Hot Springs Road, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Maeda was at the wheel of her 2014 Nissan Murano when she ran into a bright-colored, water-filled traffic attenuator barrel placed to slow traffic through a construction zone on the freeway, the CHP said.
Officer Russ Robertson said that Maeda was inspecting damage to the mid-size SUV when a motorist traveling at an unconfirmed speed in his 2004 Honda Accord plowed into her in the construction zone.
“The adult male driver fled the scene,” Robertson said.
Murrieta Fire & Rescue personnel arrived less than 15 minutes later and pronounced the victim dead at the scene. Her passenger, identified only as a man, was not injured.
CHP officers obtained evidence that led to identification of the vehicle involved in the hit-and-run, culminating in an arrest warrant being obtained and served on the suspect at his residence Sunday afternoon, according to Robertson.
He said the man, whose identity was being withheld Monday, was taken into custody without incident and booked into the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta on suspicion of DUI gross vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run.
Bail information was not immediately available.