Passenger, 23, killed in head-on crash in Colton

A woman ejected from a truck that traveled into opposing traffic and collided head-on with a car near Colton died early Sunday, March 7, and the pickup’s driver was arrested.

The driver, Dina Mariesol Mora Martinez of Adelanto, suffered only minor injuries in the collision, and was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and vehicular manslaughter, California Highway Patrol officials said in a news release. Martinez, 34, was behind the wheel of a blue Chevy Colorado that slammed into a red Toyota Corolla at about 1:50 a.m. on Valley Boulevard, near Cypress Avenue.

The blue truck was headed east on Valley and traveled into westbound lanes when it collided with the red car, police said. The force of the crash launched a 23-year-old Cathedral City woman who was not wearing a seatbelt out of the passenger seat of the Colorado.

That woman later died at a hospital, police said. Her identity was withheld pending the notification of her relatives.

The driver and two other occupants of the Toyota had minor to moderate injuries, police said.

Martinez was arrested after the crash at 3:55 a.m. and booked into the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Central Detention Center. She was held in lieu of $250,000 bail as of Sunday afternoon.