An eighteen-year-old girl from Hawaiian Gardens lost her life early Saturday morning after her car struck a freeway center divider in Corona. Angelica Maree Quesada was driving along the eastbound lanes of the Riverside 91 Freeway when the crash happened around 4:10 a.m. just east of Green River Road.
First responders rushed to the stretch of road shortly after dispatchers received calls about a single-vehicle accident blocking traffic. Patrol officers and emergency paramedics found Quesada lying on the roadway near her damaged car, which had come to a stop directly in the leftmost lane.
Paramedics tried saving her on the spot, performing CPR right on the pavement. Their efforts were unsuccessful, and officials pronounced her dead at the scene. Riverside County coroner personnel arrived a short time later to handle the investigation and officially identify her.
Quesada had just finished high school a short while ago and was starting to figure out her next steps in life. Friends and family members remembered her as a warm, bright teenager who brought light into every space she walked into.
News of her death hit the local Hawaiian Gardens community hard over the weekend. Relatives gathered to support one another as they processed the shock of losing someone so young in a matter of seconds on a quiet stretch of highway.
To help ease the unexpected financial stress on her family, relatives set up an online fundraiser. The money raised will go directly toward her burial and funeral service expenses as her parents prepare to say goodbye.
California Highway Patrol officers reopened the lanes after completing their initial investigation at the scene. Authorities have not yet determined what caused her car to veer into the center barrier.
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