Woman Killed as Car Strikes Truck

A 23-year-old El Toro woman was killed early Sunday in Irvine when the car she was driving veered off the Santa Ana Freeway and struck a tractor-trailer rig parked on a dirt shoulder, authorities said.

Michele Jimenez was pronounced dead about 1:25 a.m. at the scene of the crash on the shoulder of the southbound freeway near Yale Avenue, a California Highway Patrol spokeswoman said. The victim had been driving alone when her two-door sedan suddenly veered across several freeway lanes and hit the big rig, which had been legally parked on the shoulder, the CHP spokeswoman said. No one was in the truck at the time.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.