Woman Suspected of DUI with Kids in the Car Plows into Sidewalk Pedestrian

COSTA MESA, CA - A woman suspected of driving under the influence of drugs was arrested after a crash today in Costa Mesa that killed a 64-year-old man who was walking on a sidewalk.
The driver, identified as 45-year-old Anna Marie McPherson of Irvine, was driving a Mercedes-Benz SUV south on Newport Boulevard about 2:20 p.m. when the vehicle left the roadway in the area of Ford Road and continued onto the sidewalk before hitting two light poles, an electrical box, a bus bench, a tree and the pedestrian, according to Costa Mesa police Lt. Victor Bakkila.
"The driver displayed symptoms of possible impairment" and was arrested following a DUI investigation, Bakkila said.
The victim, a Costa Mesa resident whose name was withheld pending family notifications, suffered major injuries and was taken to Orange County Global Medical Center in Santa Ana, where he was later pronounced dead, according to Bakkila.
"Two school-aged children in the SUV at the time of the collision were uninjured," Bakkila said.
McPherson was booked on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter and causing injury while driving under the influence of drugs.

City News Service