Julia Gardner, 29, of Irvine, has died after the Uber car she was riding in was struck by a suspected drunk driver in Costa Mesa, according to a news report.
Costa Mesa police said that Gardner and a 29-year-old Huntington Beach man were in the backseat of a Ford Escape SUV Uber car when the driver of a BMW 540i hit the passenger side of the Escape. Both passengers were taken to Orange County Global Medical Center in Santa Ana with chest injuries. Gardner died of her injuries shortly thereafter.
The Uber driver — Frank Rugnetta, 43, of Irvine, was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange with chest pain. The BMW driver — Porfirio Sandoval, 19, of Costa Mesa — has been arrested on suspicion of felony DUI in the fatal crash.
If you or a loved one is involved in an accident that causes death or serious injury, call the Orange County personal injury attorneys at Callahan & Blaine, California’s Premier Litigation Firm. We are one of the leading catastrophic Orange County personal injury law firms. In fact, in the last five years alone our lawyers have obtained over $1.5 billion in verdicts and settlements, including a record breaking $50 Million settlement against the City of Dana Point, which has been certified as the largest personal injury settlement in the history of the United States.
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If you or someone you know has suffered a catastrophic injury or died as the result of an accident, please contact our Orange County law firm for expert legal counsel.
