89-Year-Old Woman Who Drove Off Overpass Onto Freeway Identified

LOS ANGELES, CA - Authorities Friday identified the 89-year-old Los Angeles woman who was killed when she lost control of her car and crashed through a metal guardrail and fence on a Harbor (110) Freeway overpass in downtown Los Angeles, sending the vehicle plummeting onto the northbound freeway below.

The 2005 Cadillac landed on its roof amid traffic near Third Street at 3:58 a.m. Thursday, giving freeway drivers an unexpected fright, but the vehicle was not believed to have struck any vehicles when it landed, officials said.

At least two other vehicles were damaged, from striking either the crashed car or debris from the metal overpass fencing, which also landed on the roadway.

Barbara Hazely was driving north on the 110 Freeway and took the Third Street exit heading west, but she lost control while on the Third Street overpass, according to CHP officials.

The car plowed through into the metal barricade on the overpass and slammed upside-down on the northbound freeway lanes.

Los Angeles Fire Department crews used the "jaws of life" to pull Hazely's body from the wreckage, LAFD spokeswoman Margaret Stewart said.

No other injuries were reported.

City News Service