Wrong-Way Driver Held on $50,000 Bail in Fatal Northridge Crash

A woman, described as a wrong-way driver, was in custody Tuesday for allegedly driving drunk and causing a two-vehicle collision on a Northridge street that killed a woman and injured the victim's brother.

She had a blood alcohol level of .22 -- more nearly three times the legal limit, according to a KNBC4 report.

The crash occurred at 9:37 p.m. Monday at 19700 Parthenia St., according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Griselda Sandoval, 25, of Northridge, died at the scene, according to the LAPD. Sandoval was a passenger in a Honda driven by her 18-year-old brother, Roberto, also from Northridge, who was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, police said.

Valerie Stewart, 50, of Van Nuys, was booked on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, and was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail, according to police.

Police said Sandoval and her brother "were traveling west on Parthenia Street west of Corbin Avenue when a second vehicle traveling east on Parthenia Street veered into the westbound lane and collided with their car."

"Stewart ... was driving under the influence of alcohol," police said.

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Stewart's SUV came to rest against a masonry and iron fence, and she was taken to a hospital with minor injuries, said Officer Karen Rayner of the LAPD's Media Relations Section. She was then arrested.

Stewart suffered only minor injuries, police said, including a "complaint of pain."

-- City News Service contributed to this report.

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