From Sandy Louey:
Authorities on Monday released an 18-year-old Stockton woman who had been arrested after her car slammed into a tree in Elk Grove, killing one of her passengers.
The California Highway Patrol had arrested the driver, Jia Hui Chen, Saturday on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter. She was released Monday after a further investigation found that she lost control of her car because of speed and not a street race, Officer Michael Bradley, spokesman for the CHP, said in a news release.
Chen was southbound at a high rate of speed at 9:40 p.m. Saturday on Highway 99 near Grant Line Road when she lost control of the 2000 Honda Civic, the CHP said.
Chen's car left the west shoulder of the freeway, broadsiding an oak tree. The CHP said the car split in half, ejecting the passenger in the right rear seat. Twenty-eight-year-old Koob Vang of Stockton was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Sacramento County District Attorney's Office recommended Chen be released from custody and to wait until the investigation was completed and seek a warrant for the appropriate charges then, Bradley said.
Bradley said neither drugs nor alcohol were a factor in the accident.
Chen was not injured. The 19-year-old woman sitting in the front passenger seat had minor injuries.
Both were taken to UC Davis Medical Center, the CHP said.
Anyone with information about the accident is asked to call the CHP at (916) 861-1300.
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