Roger Avary, the Oscar-winning cowriter of Pulp Fiction, careened into true-crime territory with a fatal one-car crash and subsequent arrest on suspicion of DUI and manslaughter charges Sunday in Ojai, California.

Avary's wife, Gretchen, 40, was ejected by the impact of a wreck that occurred just after midnight. She was found beside the road is reportedly now in stable condition. Passenger Andreas Zini, a 34-year-old Italian national and friend of the Avarys, was taken to a nearby medical facility, where he later died. Roger Avary is currently free on bond.

Canadian-born Avary met Quentin Tarantino when they were video store clerks in the '80s. The pair liked to share stories and eventually began writing scripts together. The duo created both Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction together, but Tarantino's knack for self-promotion eventually led to a parting of ways.

While the Tarantino's career flourished, Avary was eventually reduced to script-doctor work in the late '90s. Avary's fortunes had begun to improve in the last year or so, as he'd written the screenplays for Beowulf and the 2006 chiller Silent Hill.

For 2008, Avary was working on a new flick, about an undercover cop trying to penetrate a large crime ring. According to IMDB, the new movie is titled Driver.