Teen Struck, Killed, Crossing Freeway

An 18-year-old Cypress woman running across Pacific Coast Highway in Dana Point was fatally struck today by a sport utility vehicle driven by a 17-year-old girl, an Orange County sheriff's lieutenant said.

The accident just south of Crown Valley Parkway occurred about midnight, sheriff's Lt. Lloyd Downing said.

A friend crossing the busy coastal route with the fatally struck girl made it across the road safely, he said.

The driver was in a 2002 Mercedes SUV with a 17-year-old boy, he said. Alcohol was not believed to be a factor in the accident, Downing said. Who was at fault was not immediately known.

Members of the sheriff's trauma intervention team went to the scene to talk to the youths and their parents, he said. The name of the fatally injured woman was being withheld early today.

PCH was temporarily closed between Crown Valley and Ritz Carlton Drive to accommodate the investigation.

—City News Service