U.S. Ambassador Crashes Car; Kills One

The U.S. Ambassador to Malta crashed a car into a drainage ditch in Calabasas last night, killing one passenger and injuring another.

The California Highway Patrol said that the Hyundai Accent was on Mulholland Highway near the Calabasas city limits when the car veered into a drainage ditch.

The driver, Ambassador Douglas Kmiec, 58, sustained moderate but unspecified injuries and was in stable condition after surgery at a local hospital.

Mary Campbell, 74, a nun at Our Lady of Malibu Catholic Church died at the scene. The other passenger, Pastor Emeritus Monsignor John Sheridan, 94, received moderate injuries.

No other vehicles were involved in the accident.

Kmiec became the U.S. Ambassador to Malta in September 2009. He was previously a professor of law at Pepperdine University in Malibu.