A 23-year old woman was killed when a car flew off State Route 54 and landed head-on into a tree early Monday.
The victim, identified by the San Diego County Medical Examiner as Elsa Mireya Rostro Rodriguez of San Diego, is listed as a passenger in the vehicle although she was originally identified as the driver.
Around 2 a.m. Monday, a silver Honda Civic went down an embankment near the ramp from the westbound State Route 54 to the northbound I-805. The car hit a tree head-on and was mangled pretty badly in the accident.
Two women and one man, described as in their teens and early 20s, were sent to Mercy Hospital and UCSD Hospital with major injuries.
Rodriguez had to be extricated from the vehicle and was pronounced dead shortly after from multiple blunt force injuries, according to the medical examiner.
"It doesn't appear that there are any skid marks leading up to the embankment," said CHP Officer Daniel Kyle. "It appears, just as I'm looking at it, that the wheels were rotating as they went down the hill. That would indicate no braking."
The California Highway Patrol closed the section of highway overnight while they investigated the accident.
