Freeway car crash kills Newport Beach man
Lolita Harper
A Newport Beach senior citizen died on the Costa Mesa Freeway on
Monday night after being struck by a South County woman suspected of
drunken driving.
Leonard Kaplan, 72, died after the Jeep hit him near the 17th
Street exit on the Costa Mesa Freeway at about 11 p.m. Monday, said
Cullen Ellinburgh, supervising deputy at the county coroner’s office.
Autopsy reports are not complete, but all preliminary information
shows that accident-related injuries killed Kaplan, Ellinburgh said.
Officer Joann O’Hair, spokeswoman for the California Highway
Patrol in Santa Ana, said Kaplan had crashed his Daewoo into the
center divider of the freeway and got out of his car, which faced
south in the carpool lane. Kaplan probably stayed close to the
driver’s side area, where he was struck, she said.
Kaplan was allegedly hit by Shanna Kelley, a 23-year-old Mission
Viejo resident, who did not notice the stalled vehicle in time to
avoid it, O’Hair said. Kelley veered to the left and crashed into the
driver’s side door and Kaplan, O’Hair said.
The 72-year-old man was found crushed against the center divider,
she said.
Officers said Kelley exited the freeway at Fourth Street in Tustin
and called the authorities. She was not injured, but was arrested on
suspicion of drunken driving and felony manslaughter, O’Hair said.
She is being held in Central Jail in Santa Ana.
O’Hair said officers could not determine what caused Kaplan to
initially crash into the center divider. Tire marks showed he made a
sharp turn into the median, but there was no evidence of debris on
the road, O’Hair said.
“We don’t know if he got cut off or if he woke up suddenly; we
just don’t know,” O’Hair said.
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