Woman injured in DUI collision dies, suspect in custody

MENIFEE >> A woman gravely injured in a three-vehicle wreck at a Menifee intersection died from her injuries, and the suspected drunken driver who caused the crash was arrested, authorities said.

The collision occurred just after 3 p.m. Tuesday at Berea and Newport roads, according to the Menifee Police Department.

The 41-year-old woman who was critically injured in the collision died Thursday, Sgt. Matthew Bloch said. Her name has not been publicly released.

Gabriel Derian, 41, of Menifee, was hospitalized with major injuries but is expected to survive, Bloch said. He was informed by detectives that he was under arrest on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter, driving while intoxicated and DUI resulting in great bodily injury.

The suspect was driving a Ford SUV westbound on Newport Road at an undetermined speed and ignored a red traffic signal, driving straight into the intersection, Bloch said.

The woman killed was driving a BMW SUV south on Berea Road, when she entered the intersection on a green light and was broadsided on the driver’s side by the Ford. This caused her vehicle to impact a Chrysler sedan, whose driver was waiting to make an eastbound turn onto Newport Road from Berea Road, Bloch said.

Patrol officers were the first to reach the scene and found the woman in the BMW trapped inside the wreckage, barely clinging to life. Officers began performing CPR until Cal Fire/riverside County Fire Department paramedics reached the location and took over, Bloch said.

Firefighters freed the woman from the smashed vehicle minutes later, and she was taken to a regional trauma center, where she remained in intensive care until her death.

The 55-year-old Menifee woman driving the Chrysler suffered minor injuries, for which she was treated and released from the hospital, according to Bloch.

Derian was taken to a trauma center and was reported to be stable.

Background information on the suspect was unavailable.