PERRIS, Calif. - A woman with an open container of alcohol in her car drove the wrong way on an interstate and slammed into another car Sunday morning, killing herself and two people in the other car, a California Highway Patrol dispatcher said.
The woman, identified as Lillian Marie Hunt, 43, of Temecula, drove her 1996 Toyota Camry southbound on the northbound side of Interstate 215 about 20 miles southeast of Riverside, said the dispatcher, who declined to give her full name.
At about 5:45 a.m., the car slammed into a 1986 Honda Accord driven by Shane Michael Barkman, 20, of Moreno Valley, and carrying two passengers - Adam Ryan Granillo, 20, of Moreno Valley, and an 18-year-old Riverside woman.
Hunt, Barkman and Granillo died at the scene just south of Highway 74, and the Riverside woman was airlifted to Riverside County Regional Medical Center with severe head injuries. The injured woman's name was not immediately available.
A car driving behind the Honda collided with that vehicle after the head-on crash, but its driver was uninjured.
The dispatcher said officers were still investigating Sunday and had not yet determined whether alcohol played a role in the crash. It was not immediately known what kind of alcohol was found in the car or where it was at the time of the crash.