GARDEN GROVE : Freeway Accident Takes Woman’s Life

A 47-year-old Garden Grove woman was killed Thursday morning when she lost control of her car and crashed into a semitrailer truck on the Garden Grove Freeway, the California Highway Patrol said.

In Ja Nam was driving east on the freeway near the Magnolia Avenue off-ramp about 11:30 a.m. when she lost control of her vehicle, swerved into the next lane and hit the rear wheels of the truck, CHP Officer Denise Quesada said.

The impact forced the woman to veer to the right shoulder, Quesada said. The vehicle overturned and slid back onto the freeway, where it came to a stop in one of the middle lanes, she said.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, Quesada said.

The truck driver, Mitchell Pettyjohn, 32, of Palmdale, was not injured, she said.

The accident closed a lane of the freeway, causing a three-mile backup for eastbound traffic that lasted until about 3 p.m., CHP Officer Joan Rivas said.