The driver of a car involved a deadly head-on collision in Malibu that left a man dead on the Fourth of July has been identified as a social media influencer with more than 100,000 followers on Instagram.
The fatal crash occurred on a stretch of Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu near Carbon Canyon Road just after 10 p.m.
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the driver of a 2019 white Mercedes Benz sedan, now identified as Summer Wheaton, was traveling eastbound when she crossed the center median and collided with a 2020 Cadillac SUV traveling westbound.
“As a result of the collision, the driver of the Cadillac succumbed to his injuries at the scene,” the sheriff’s department said.
Wheaton and the passenger in the Cadillac were also taken to the hospital where they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
A licensed real-estate agent at one point, Wheaton, 32, had recently marketed herself as a “founder, speaker and wellness advocate” that focused on healthy living, according to reporting from the Los Angeles Times.
After she was identified as a driver in the fatal wrong-way crash, the 32-year-old’s Instagram account and her personal website, which says she’s the CEO of “two innovative startups,” one of which markets vending selling healthy snacks, were both made private.
The Times also noted that the deadly collision, which occurred in the 2200 block of PCH, occurred right around the time Nobu Restaurant held a party without obtaining “required city permits.”
It was not immediately known if drugs or alcohol were a factor in the crash, which remains under investigation by the sheriff’s department.