Woman dies in car crash

A woman died Sunday afternoon after the car in which she was riding crashed into a light pole in Henderson.

About 2 p.m., a Henderson police officer attempted to pull over a white Scion that he had seen swerving in traffic on Greenway Road near Boulder Highway. The Scion sped away toward Fairway Road and Pacific Avenue, police said.

The officer turned off his emergency lights and siren and continued traveling in the direction of the speeding car, as roadside witnesses pointed out the where it had gone, according to Keith Paul, Henderson police spokesman.

At Water and Church streets, the officer found the Scion overturned with the light pole on top of the vehicle, Paul said.

The passenger, whose name was withheld by police, was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.

The driver of the Scion, 23-year-old John Wayne Ascencio of California, was taken to St. Rose Dominican Hospital, Siena campus, for treatment of his injuries and then was booked on a charge of driving under the influence and causing a death, Paul said.