Pedestrian leaving marketplace hit by SUV, killed

Moorpark resident Margaret Figueroa, 65, was walking out of the vehicle exit of the Janss Marketplace parking structure near Marshall's department store two weeks ago Friday when she was struck by a 2001 Chevy Suburban driven by Thousand Oaks resident Suzette Quance, 43.

According to witnesses to the Oct. 24 fatality, Quance came out of the parking structure at 285 N. Moorpark Road at about 6:30 p.m. and began making a left turn when the front of her vehicle struck Figueroa, who was near the center of a two-way street, not in a designated crosswalk area,said Senior Dep. Rick Godfrey of Ventura County Sheriff's Department.

Upon realizing her vehicle had struck something, Quance immediately stopped and found Figueroa had fallen backward and hit her head on the roadway, Godfrey said.

Figueroa was transported by ambulance to Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center. She was pronounced dead at 7:20 p.m., according to James Baroni, Ventura County chief deputy medical examiner.

The cause of death was blunt force head injuries, Baroni said.

Neither drugs nor alcohol appear to be a factor in the collision and the investigation is continuing, Godfrey said.

"There were pedestrian exits and pedestrian crosswalks 150 feet in either direction," Godfrey said.

—Nancy Needham