A 21-year-old Lake Forest woman was killed when the car she was riding in collided with a telephone pole in Garden Grove.
Ariel Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident on Brookhurst Street near Imperial Avenue early Sunday morning.
According to Garden Grove Police, Johnson was one of three occupants in a car, including driver Shauna Ahyen, 21, of Fountain Valley. Ahyen and the other passenger were taken to a local hospital and treated for their injuries.
Ahyen is suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol, and was booked into Orange County Jail for DUI and vehicular manslaughter, according to a GGPD release.
Ahyen is alleged to have been driving northbound on Brookhurst when she drove off the road and struck the pole at 3:28 a.m. The car then hit Performance Car Audio and Alarm at 13312 Brookhurst before coming to rest on the sidewalk.
Johnson was a 2010 graduate of El Toro High School who had attended Saddleback College and was interested in nursing. She had worked as a babysitter, and listed herself on a babysitting website; in her profile, she indicated she helped raise her two younger siblings, and wrote: "I have always loved working with children, I am truly a sucker for those cute little faces."
The police department is looking for any witnesses to the accident, who are asked to call Investigator Adam Zmija at 714-741-5847.
