Alcohol Suspected in Fatal Collision

At a busy intersection in Rancho Santa Margarita, a makeshift memorial went up Wednesday carrying a simple caveat: “Please Don’t Ever Drink and Drive.”

Late Tuesday, Constance Barrowman, 50, was driving with her 13-year-old son, Kyle, and two German tourists when a pickup driven by an allegedly drunk teenager plowed into her car.

She died on impact shortly before midnight. Authorities said the pickup was driven by Lake Forest resident Christopher J. Bloom, 18, a Saddleback College student. Authorities say Bloom sped through a red light and that his alcohol level was more than double the legal limit.

Although Bloom wasn’t injured, his 18-year-old male passenger was treated for minor injuries at the scene by paramedics.

Bloom will be arraigned Friday on charges of vehicular manslaughter and felony driving under the influence, said Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino.

Barrowman, a real estate agent, leaves behind a son she raised and home-schooled on her own. Barrowman’s passengers were former foreign-exchange students and newlyweds who had befriended her when they studied in Orange County several years ago, Amormino said.

The couple and Kyle Barrowman were transported to Saddleback Memorial Medical Center, where they were treated for minor injuries and released.

Barrowman’s death left her tightknit Rancho Santa Margarita cul-de-sac stunned.

“She gave of her entire self to her son,” said one longtime neighbor.

Barrowman was part of a group of residents who had lived in the neighborhood for more than a decade.

“Constance was always working on her yard and Kyle was always behind her,” the neighbor said. “She was fun and extremely talkative. She could talk about anything, and was the kind of person you could call on at the spur of the moment.”

At Barrowman’s home, family and friends quickly built a protective cocoon around her son.

“The boy is doing as well as can be expected,” a family friend said. An aunt and uncle are expected to care for him.

Barrowman and her sleeping passengers were heading home when the accident occurred as she tried to make a left turn from Melinda Road onto Rancho Santa Margarita Parkway, Amormino said.

Authorities say Bloom sped through a red light and crashed his 1989 Toyota pickup into the driver’s side of Barrowman’s 1999 Ford Taurus. The impact crushed Barrowman’s chest and fractured her pelvis, said Bruce Lyle, supervising deputy for the Orange County coroner’s office.

Bloom had been partying, Amormino said, and told authorities he was heading home.

Statistically, teenagers make a small percentage of the people arrested for driving under the influence, let alone arrested for killing someone while driving drunk, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

In fact, drivers younger than 21 make up only 6% of DUI arrests, the organization said.

But while young people make up a small percentage of people involved in DUIs, they make a relatively large portion of the people who run red lights, said Julie Rochman, vice president of communications for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

“Young people tend to be more aggressive and risk prone,” Rochman said. “A lot of red-light runners are not only young, but alcohol-impaired.”