CHP says the van of the woman who died was struck from behind
Personal Injury News
Article Date: 5/20/2009 | Resource: MLG
CHP says the van of the woman who died was struck from behind
“Sheri Byars suffered major injuries in the accident and died two days later.”
The California Highway Patrol said that the van of the Garden Grove woman who died after an accident was struck from behind, but investigators have not yet assigned blame for the crash.
Sheri Byars, 48, died late Monday night at UCI Medical Center in Orange, according to the Orange County Coroner’s Office.
Byars had suffered major injuries, included a skull fracture, in the Saturday night crash on the Beach Boulevard onramp to the north 405 freeway in Westminster, the CHP said.
Byars was driving a Chevy Astro at about 10:05 pm. and had not yet merged into the 405 lanes when a Nissan Sentra driven by Nancy Marie Carels struck the van from behind, said Ray Payton, a CHP public information officer. A brief description on the coroner’s Website had said that Byars’ van struck another vehicle.
“At this time we don’t know why both collided,” Payton said. Alcohol is not suspected as the cause of the crash, he added. The investigation is continuing and the CHP has yet to determine who’s at fault.
“We’re not assigning blame just yet until the investigation is complete,” Payton said. The investigation could take two to three weeks.
After Byars van was struck from behind, it hit a raised median and then rolled several times before coming to rest on its wheels in the northbound lanes of the 405, Payton said.
Carels’ Sentra veered out of control to the right and stopped in the shrubbery on the freeway shoulder, he said.
Carels, 58, of Huntington Beach, was not injured in the accident, Payton said. Two passengers in Byars’ van, ages 17 and 22 whose identities have not been released, suffered injuries not believed to be life threatening, he said.
Byars was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, Payton said.
For more information regarding this article please contact:
Jeffrey Marquart
(949)589-0150
jmarquart@marquartlawgroup.com