VAN PLUNGES DOWN EMBANKMENT ONTO FREEWAY; 1 DEAD.

Byline: Josh Kleinbaum Staff Writer

GRANADA HILLS - A disabled senior citizen lost control of her van Tuesday on a surface street, drove down a 20-foot embankment onto the San Diego Freeway and struck a pickup truck in a collision that killed her elderly female passenger, police said.

The driver of the Ford Econoline van lost control while heading down Odyssey Drive, approaching Blucher Avenue just before 2 p.m., Los Angeles police Detective William Bustos said.

The van crossed Blucher Avenue, jumped a curb, crashed through a chain-link fence and down a brush-filled embankment. The van plowed into the pickup truck in the No. 3 lane of the southbound freeway and pushed the truck into the center divider, Bustos said.

The driver of the van told police that her brakes failed.

``We won't know for sure (what happened) until the inspection of the vehicle is done, all the witnesses are spoken with and all the parties involved are interviewed by detectives,'' Bustos said.

The driver of the van and three people in the pickup truck were injured and taken to local hospitals, Bustos said.

One of the passengers in the van was in serious condition.

The identities of all involved were not released.

The van had left the Odyssey Restaurant, which had hosted several parties Tuesday afternoon. But police do not believe the driver of the van was intoxicated, Bustos said.

The crash slowed southbound traffic on the freeway.

Josh Kleinbaum, [phone]

josh.kleinbaum(at)dailynews.com