LAGUNA NIGUEL – The coroner released the name of the 48-year-old woman stuck by a car and killed Sunday morning while she was trying to protect a stray dog.

Mara Steves, a resident of Laguna Niguel, had rescued an unidentified stray dog from the street and was kneeling with the dog on the sidewalk when two vehicles crashed in the intersection of Moulton Parkway and Nueva Vista Drive at 11:10 a.m., according to Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Ted Boyne.

The collision caused one or both cars to roll up onto the sidewalk, striking and killing Steves, who was walking with her adult son on Moulton Parkway, Boyne said.

A 59-year-old man from Anaheim who was driving a Toyota 4Runner had a bruised leg in the accident. The 56-year-old woman passenger in the 4Runner suffered a broken collar bone.

A 27-year-old man who was driving the other vehicle, a Ford Explorer, suffered some bumps and bruises, Boyne said. The dog ran away.

A SigAlert was issued at noon due to the closure of northbound Moulton Parkway between Aliso Creek Road and Crown Valley Parkway. The SigAlert was canceled at about 4:30 p.m.

Contact the writer: squick@ocregister.com