Authorities identify driver killed on state Route 76 near Pala

Authorities have publicly identified a 65-year-old Orange County man who was killed in a Memorial Day pileup allegedly caused by an intoxicated driver on a rural road near Pala Casino.

The driver, Manh Nguyen of Fountain Valley, was headed west on state Route 76 when an eastbound Toyota Camry veered into his path and struck his Lexus GS-350 near Magee Road last Monday shortly after 9 p.m., the county Medical Examiner’s Office and California Highway Patrol said.

The collision led to subsequent crashes of two other vehicles, a Hyundai Santa Fe and a Jeep Laredo, CHP Officer Hunter Gerber said. Nguyen died at the scene.

The other motorists, a passenger in the Toyota and another person who had been riding in the Jeep suffered minor to moderately series injuries in the collision.

The driver of the Camry, 23-year-old Bianca Anahy Hernandez of Pauma Valley, was treated at a hospital before being booked into county jail on suspicion of felony DUI and gross vehicular manslaughter, Gerber said.