Pedestrian dies from hit-and-run injuries

A man who was hit by a car on southbound Newport Boulevard just off the 55 Freeway earlier this month has died, police said Monday.

Michael McLaughlin, who lived in San Diego but hailed from Camillus, N.Y., died at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana at 2:44 p.m. Sunday. He was 29.

Police said Shana Calderon, 20, of Newport Beach, hit McLaughlin about 1:30 a.m. Dec. 12 while she drove drunk onto Newport Boulevard from the freeway. Calderon at first fled the scene but turned herself in to police a couple of hours later, and was booked on suspicion of DUI causing great bodily injury. She posted $100,000 bail and was released soon after.

Police have not completed their investigation, which they turned over to prosecutors for possible charges, said traffic investigator Rick Cummings.

Investigators have conflicting reports on how McLaughlin was hit, Cummings said. He said Calderon told police that McLaughlin had stepped off the curb just before getting hit. Another witness told police that McLaughlin was standing in the street and had not just stepped off the curb before being struck, Cummings said.

In either case, McLaughlin was standing in the middle of the lane next to the right-turn-only lane going onto 19th Street from Newport Boulevard, Cummings said. The Orange County Sheriff-Coroner is expected to do an autopsy on McLaughlin today.