Traffic Accidents

While Kim Lundell was studying religion in the United States, her teenage son in South Korea drowned. His death prompted her to start a church for young Koreans in Los Angeles County. Walnut Blessing Church of the Nazarene became just that, with high school and college students making up about 70% of the roughly 100 congregants. Many are recent immigrants whose parents are divorced and work long hours at low-wage jobs. "The church is their home," Lundell said.

Britney Spears' motoring misfortunes continue. The pop star was involved in a minor traffic accident late Saturday, but no one was injured and no vehicles were damaged, authorities said. Spears was driving her 2008 Mercedes on the eastbound Ventura Freeway just east of the 405 Freeway about 8:20 p.m. when the accident occurred, said California Highway Patrol Officer Patrick Kimball. Spears was in stop-and-go traffic when her car struck a 2006 Nissan in front of her that had stopped.

A husband and wife in their 60s died Saturday morning after their car rolled down an embankment and crashed on the 55 Freeway, authorities said. Jack Henderson, 69, had exited the freeway and was driving south on Newport Boulevard in a 2005 Chevrolet Malibu about 9 a.m. when he lost control of the car, Costa Mesa police said. Firefighters had to cut into the crushed car to remove the victims. Henderson was pronounced dead at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach. His wife, Carolyn, 65, was pronounced dead at the scene, officers said.

After deliberating only a few hours, an Orange County jury Monday convicted a Long Beach man of murder in the death of a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy who was killed in a traffic collision after swerving out of the path of a stove -- allegedly stolen from a construction site -- that tumbled out of the man's pickup.

Two people are dead and four others are in serious to critical condition after a pickup truck they were riding in Saturday night struck a palm tree. The crash occurred about 8:45 p.m. when the driver of the pickup crossed railroad tracks on Jefferson Street, just south of the Riverside Freeway, at 55 to 60 mph, said Riverside police spokesman Steven Frasher. The driver of the 2003 crew-cab Dodge Ram lost control of the vehicle, which became airborne and hit a tree, Frasher said. He estimated that the speed limit there was about 35 mph and said the two women and four men in the pickup were between 18 and 20 years old. Frasher said investigators were not yet sure if alcohol or drugs were involved.

The Los Angeles woman who died Saturday in a tour bus crash was remembered by neighbors as a devoted mom and generous friend. Faith Creer "was a good mother and a good worker," said neighbor Thomasina Curry. "She and her husband are good people." Creer, 31, died when the bus bound for Laughlin, Nev., skidded out of control and slid 100 feet on its side off Interstate 40 about 40 miles east of Barstow. The one-vehicle crash is under investigation by the California Highway Patrol, which has moved the bus to a storage area, said CHP spokesman Taj Johnson.

Eight people, including one child, were injured Monday afternoon in a collision on the southbound Hollywood Freeway, authorities said. The four-vehicle crash occurred about 4:20 p.m. south of Highland Avenue, the California Highway Patrol said. Two of the vehicles overturned. Lanes were blocked briefly, authorities said. -- Anna Gorman

The owner of six Los Angeles-area medical marijuana dispensaries was arrested by federal agents Tuesday after an investigation sparked by a traffic accident in which a motorist allegedly high on one of the dispensaries' products plowed into a parked SUV, killing the driver and paralyzing a California Highway Patrol officer. In the aftermath of the Dec.

Los Angeles police Saturday arrested an Inglewood man believed to be the driver of a Jaguar involved in a five-car, high-speed crash Friday night in which two people died in Baldwin Village. German Maximo, 22, was arrested at his home on suspicion of felony hit and run. He "fled the scene without rendering aid," said Los Angeles Police Officer Norma Eisenman.

One person was killed and three injured when an SUV plowed into a crowd on a Venice sidewalk Sunday afternoon in front of St. Mark Catholic Church. The driver, who had just attended Mass, told witnesses and police that she accidentally stepped on the accelerator when her daughter, a passenger, suffered a seizure. Witnesses described a scene of pandemonium as the silver Nissan drove up onto a sidewalk filled with churchgoers, pinning a man against a flower bed and striking several women.