California woman who died after driving off I-5 overpass in Sacramento identified

A 20-year-old woman died after her vehicle crashed through a wooden safety rail and plunged 50 feet to the roadway below Saturday morning on Interstate 5 in Sacramento, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The driver, Leticia Iyanna Melia Hundley of Burson in Calaveras County, was found dead around 4 a.m. by a pedestrian who was walking on Freeport Boulevard in the Meadowview neighborhood, not far from the city’s water treatment plant and iconic water tower. Sacramento Fire Department personnel arrived at the scene only to find Hundley unresponsive and the car’s engine cold, the CHP said in a news release.

According to officers, Hundley had been driving a Suzuki Grand Vitara on northbound I-5 at an unknown speed and time, when she drove onto the right shoulder past orange safety barrels and a temporary concrete barrier that was meant to block the shoulder.

Hundley continued driving on the right shoulder for a quarter-mile until she crashed into a raised concrete area of the elevated roadway that crossed Freeport Boulevard, the CHP said. Then, for unknown reasons, she turned right onto a temporary plywood platform. The Suzuki collided with the guardrail and drove off the platform.

The SUV plummeted 50 feet and overturned a few feet east of the roadway, the CHP said. It is unknown if alcohol or drugs were a factor in the crash.

This story was originally published April 18, 2020 at 5:08 PM.