By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula Times
An elderly woman who might have left a nearby independent living facility in the very early hours of the morning was struck by a semi-truck and killed on Highway 126 Tuesday.
The woman was identified Wednesday as 77-year-old Olga Guzman of Ventura.
According to the California Highway Patrol website initial reports were that two pedestrians were seen walking eastbound on the shoulder of Highway 126 at 4:03 a.m. October 22. Later reports noted a female had veered into traffic lanes and was still walking with her hands behind her back near the Edwards Ranch Road overpass.
CHP Officers tried to locate the woman who was found-clad in a white sweater and blue jeans but with no identification-under the overpass.
Attempts to resuscitate the woman were unsuccessful and she was declared dead at the scene, according to CHP spokesman Officer Steve Reid.
Officers found the driver of the big-rig, Michael Attema, 53, of Ventura, near the Briggs Road exit just east of the crash scene where he had pulled over to examine his semi-truck.
Attema told officers he did hit something on the highway but didn’t know what. He was cooperative with the investigation and was not arrested; there was no indication that alcohol played a role in Attema’s semi-truck hitting the woman.
Some lanes of the highway were closed until about 5:50 a.m. while the Ventura County Medical Examiner responded to the scene and the CHP conducted its investigation.
An autopsy revealed Guzman died of blunt force trauma and officials ruled the death was an accident. No other information was released including how Guzman might have wound up walking on the highway.
