Driver Who Died In SUV Crash On I-8 In Boulevard ID'd

SAN DIEGO, CA — Authorities have publicly identified a Los Angeles woman who was killed a week ago in a freeway crash in the rural southeastern reaches of San Diego County.

Rosie Johnson-Stewart, 52, was behind the wheel in a westbound 2008 Ford Edge that veered off Interstate 8 in the Boulevard area for unknown reasons shortly after 4:30 p.m. last Tuesday, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office.

The SUV overturned and rolled side-over-side down an embankment near McCain Valley Road, coming to rest roughly 300 feet below the freeway, Cal Fire reported.

Johnson-Stewart died at the scene.

A 43-year-old man who had been riding in the vehicle was able to extricate himself from the wreckage and alert emergency personnel to his location by shouting for help, according to the California Highway Patrol. Paramedics airlifted him to a San Diego hospital for treatment of serious injuries, CHP public-affairs Officer Jared Grieshaber said.

Investigators suspect that intoxication was a factor in the fatal wreck, Grieshaber said.

— City News Service