A woman killed by a suspected drunken driver heading the wrong way on Interstate 25 has been identified as Jennifer Friede, a longtime Denver-area marijuana activist.

The Denver medical examiner’s office said Friede, 34, of Broomfield, was a passenger in a vehicle headed northbound in the high-occupancy vehicle lane near Park Avenue West early Saturday when it was struck by a vehicle traveling south.

Denver police arrested the driver of the wrong-way car, Rebecca Maez, 27, on suspicion of DUI and vehicular homicide. Friede’s boyfriend, Jeremy DePinto, was driving the car and also suffered injuries. The couple were headed home from a concert about 1 a.m.

“I saw her coming, and you get that little blur, for a second, of disbelief,” DePinto said Wednesday, as friends prepared to gather for a celebration of Friede’s life. “Once I realized it was happening, I looked to the left and right and realized we were trapped. I veered to the left, and she veered into me.”

In 2009, Edgewater police arrested Maez for DUI, speeding in a construction zone and driving while her license was under restraint, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Jail records show she remains in the Downtown Denver Detention Center on $80,000 bond.

Friede was known as Jenny Kush, who advocated for the expansion of access to marijuana, DePinto said.

“She was trying to end the oppression over it,” DePinto said. “We’d rally at the Capitol the last Saturday of every month for years, trying to tell people that cannabis is safer than alcohol. It’s ironic that it was an uninsured drunk driver that killed her.”

DePinto described Friede as a talented artist and dessert chef who had four children, ages 16, 12, 10, and 6.

“She was a pretty passionate woman,” DePinto said. “She shone brighter than pretty much anyone.”

Sadie Gurman: 303-954-1661, sgurman@denverpost.com or twitter.com/sgurman