Charges Planned in Fatal Accident

Investigators plan to recommend that criminal charges be filed against a 17-year-old Oxnard girl who was driving a crowded pickup truck early Sunday when it overturned, killing two teen-agers and seriously injuring a third.

The California Highway Patrol plans to ask prosecutors to charge the driver, whose name was not released because of her age, with vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence and driving without a license, Officer Staci Morse said.

However, it will be at least a week before the accident report is completed, she said.

The accident occurred about 2:40 a.m. Sunday on the northbound Ventura Freeway near Rancho Conejo Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.

The girl told officers that she had started to change lanes to the right when she thought that she saw headlights approaching in that lane. So she veered back to the left, but overcorrected and was heading for the center divider, Morse said. When she turned the wheel again to the right, the truck started skidding and rolled over, landing on its wheels. Of six passengers riding in the back of the pickup truck, three were thrown out.

Rosalinda Santana and Jennifer Rodriguez, both 17, were killed. Veronica Ochoa, who was seriously injured, is hospitalized in fair condition.

The truck was carrying 10 Oxnard teen-agers who had been at a post-graduation party in Hollywood. They ranged in age from 13 to 18.

Several miles before the accident, a male driver had switched with the 17-year-old girl because he was sleepy, Morse said.

She was given a field sobriety test at the scene, but there was no evidence that she had been drinking, officers said.