A 58-year-old Tacoma, Washington woman was pronounced dead at the scene after the van she was driving rolled over on northbound Interstate 5 near State Route 32 in Glenn County, and her 34-year-old passenger, also from Tacoma, suffered major injuries and was hospitalized. The California Highway Patrol identified the driver as Puthy Chuop and the passenger as Ryna Roeun.
According to KRCR, officers were dispatched around 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday to a reported rollover crash on northbound I-5 north of State Route 32. The vehicle, a 2018 Ram ProMaster van, reportedly traveled off the east side of the road and struck a dirt embankment before coming to rest on its left side. Automated crash-detection technology on a modern iPhone triggered an alert that summoned first responders to the rural stretch of freeway, per California Car Accident News & Reports.
Both occupants had to be freed from the van before Roeun could be transported to Enloe Medical Center in Chico for treatment. Enloe Health operates the 264-bed facility as one of only two Level II Trauma Centers north of Sacramento, making it the region's primary destination for serious crash injuries. Chuop was pronounced dead at the scene, and per CHP, she was the only driver involved in the crash.
What Investigators Know So Far
CHP is investigating the circumstances that led to the crash, and per officials, drugs or alcohol were not suspected as contributing factors. What caused the van to leave the roadway and strike the embankment remains unresolved. The stretch of I-5 where the crash occurred sits near the junction with State Route 32, a two-lane highway that Caltrans describes as a major east-west lifeline route connecting Glenn County's agricultural communities with Chico and higher-level medical care in Butte County.
The Willows Area CHP office, which handles traffic enforcement and collision investigations across 29 miles of the I-5 corridor and 1,327 square miles of Glenn County, maintains primary jurisdiction over the case. That stretch of freeway is a heavily traveled interregional freight corridor with a posted 70 mph speed limit and average daily traffic volumes exceeding 25,000 vehicles near the nearby Orland interchange, according to Caltrans.
Why Vans Like the ProMaster Are Vulnerable to Rollovers
The Ram ProMaster sustained major rollover damage in the crash, and safety researchers note that commercial and utility vans carry inherent stability risks. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has found that full-size vans feature elevated rooflines and altered weight distribution compared to standard passenger cars, giving them a higher center of gravity that increases vulnerability to rollovers during sudden off-road departures or evasive steering.
Rollovers carry an outsized fatality risk relative to how often they occur. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data shows that rollover crashes account for roughly 30 percent of passenger vehicle occupant fatalities nationwide, even though they represent only a small fraction of overall collisions. Separate IIHS statistics show unbelted occupants make up nearly 46 percent of passenger vehicle crash fatalities, underscoring how seatbelt use remains the most effective defense against ejection when a vehicle rolls multiple times.
A Recurring Hazard on Rural Glenn County Roads
This is not the first rollover to strike the Orland area in recent months. In January, emergency crews responded to another solo-vehicle rollover crash at County Road 202, a pattern that points to the risks posed by steep dirt embankments and unpaved shoulders along Glenn County's rural roadways when vehicles leave their travel lane. CHP has also periodically deployed aerial speed enforcement in coordination with Northern Division Air Operations along I-5 in Glenn County, targeting speeding drivers on the open rural stretches where excessive speed frequently contributes to loss of control.
For now, the exact cause of Wednesday night's crash remains under investigation by the California Highway Patrol.
