LOS ANGELES -- A car shot off the side of a Los Angeles freeway and landed on a homeless encampment Tuesday, crushing to death a woman and injuring three people inside the car, authorities said.

The Honda sedan went over the right shoulder of southbound Interstate 405 in Van Nuys shortly after 6 p.m., California Highway Patrol Officer Elizabeth Kravig said.

It ran about 20 feet down an embankment and hit the encampment, a dirt area surrounded by trees and brush. The scene was littered with clothing, water bottles and trash.

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“A transient or some kind of pedestrian got wedged underneath the vehicle,” Kravig said.

The 40-year-old woman died at the scene, she said.

Three people in the car were injured, Kravig said.

Two men were taken to the hospital in serious to critical condition and the driver was hospitalized in fair condition with non-life threatening injuries, according to a Fire Department message.

There was no immediate word on what caused the car to jump the freeway.

The highway patrol told CBS Los Angeles that homeless encampments are a constant issue in the area.

“For the San Fernando Valley, I can tell you,” Officer David Galbraith said, “this couple-mile stretch of freeway right here is well-known for being occupied by many homeless people.”