Passenger Killed in Freeway Accident
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A Long Beach man was killed in an accident about 1 a.m. Monday on the Conejo Grade while riding in a van driven by his son.
Russell Dunning, 44, was asleep in the passenger seat while his 19-year-old son, Erik, was driving south on the Ventura Freeway, authorities said.
Erik Dunning, an enlisted man in the Air Force, apparently fell asleep at the wheel while heading up the Conejo Grade, Officer Dave Cockrill of the California Highway Patrol said.
The van drifted from the fast lane across the freeway and rammed into the guard rail near the weight station, Cockrill said.
“We didn’t have any witnesses, so we aren’t able to estimate the speed,” he said.
The van then flipped and hit a sign post for the weight station, killing Russell Dunning and slightly injuring the younger man, who was taken to St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital, treated for minor injuries and released, Cockrill said.
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