LA MESA : Foreign Student Dies in Head-On I-8 Crash

A 33-year-old Japanese exchange student was killed in La Mesa on Sunday night when her car was hit head-on by a driver suspected of being drunk entered the freeway in the wrong direction, the California Highway patrol said.

Hiroko Kitada, a student at Grossmont College, was killed about 10 p.m. when the car in which she was riding on Interstate 8 near Jackson Drive was hit by a car driven by Denise R. Cooke, 41, of San Diego, CHP Officer Tom Christian said.

Kitada and the driver, Yukako Fujii, 22, were traveling east in the slow lane on I-8 when Cooke entered the freeway in the wrong direction at about 35 m.p.h., Christian said.

Kitada was pronounced dead at the scene with head injuries, Christian said. Fujii was taken to Mercy Hospital with a dislocated hip and an injured knee. She was in fair condition Monday, hospital officials said.

Cooke was treated for cuts at UC San Diego Medical Center and released Monday morning, hospital officials said. She was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving upon her release, El Cajon police said.