by James Cohen
Wednesday, June 27th 2012, 9am, Mission
Viejo -- A car travels north on the 5 freeway with five people
inside. One of them, 51-year-old Linda Von Trapp, gets out of the car when it
slows down in traffic and runs across lanes into oncoming vehicles until she's
struck and killed by a 19-year-old woman.
It certainly sounds like a suicide but a search on the woman turns up no new information. It does, however, lead to several women jumping out of cars in recent years. Before we get to that, though, one unfortunately-phrased result in regards to Ms. Von Trapp:
Shame on you, classmates.com. I'm not even going to provide a hyperlink.
Moving on.
September 24th, 2010: A man witnesses a woman flip "head over heels" on the 22 freeway in Garden Grove. The unidentified woman reportedly jumped out of a vehicle after an argument with the driver. Rejoice, gentle reader, because no matter how terrible your relationships have been, you've probably never jumped out of a moving car and onto the freeway rather than talk to someone. She survived, but hopefully that relationship did not.
December 14th, 2011: Police are called after a woman tries to get out of a car in Downtown LA but is pulled back in by her estranged husband whom she's divorcing. Reports vary on whether she later bailed out of the car or was pushed, but either way her husband followed suit and the car crashed into the center divider. Both survived and the man was arrested.
March 19th, 2011: Yet another woman fell or jumped out of a car on the 22 freeway in Garden Grove in the very early hours of a Saturday. Reports vary again, so either the driver of the car or a passing motorist picked her up and TOOK HER BACK TO HIS PLACE, where he later alerted authorities about the woman with fatal head trauma. It sure is good that he was there to eventually get help. After stopping at home. Did I mention the fatal head trauma?
