Woman, 26, Is Hit and Killed After Running Onto Freeway
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A 26-year-old Dana Point woman died early Tuesday after being struck by two cars as she ran into oncoming traffic on the San Diego Freeway in Irvine, authorities said.
Police said Brook Suzanne Steele was apparently upset by a cellular telephone conversation she had with her boyfriend shortly after midnight as she was riding in a friend’s 1998 Chrysler Sebring, which was traveling north on the freeway.
“She was so distraught she was pounding on the windshield,” said Angel Johnson, a spokeswoman for the California Highway Patrol. “Her friend stopped the car to try to calm her down.”
The driver pulled over to the right shoulder near Sand Canyon Avenue, and Steele jumped out and ran into traffic, officers said. The drivers of the two vehicles that struck Steele were not cited, no alcohol use was suspected, and the drivers apparently were not speeding, police said.
Johnson said officials have not determined whether to classify the death a suicide.
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