Two Incidents of Freeway Crashes Reported

July 8, 2008

LOS ANGELES – Authorities have reported a rise in freeway crash incidents in the past week. Two separate accidents occurred in 210 Freeway and Santa Monica Freeway involving a car and a parked trailer and in another, a car that crashed in a bridge support pillar.

In 210 Freeway, east of La Tuna Canyon Road near Tujunga, a motorist was killed when his car rear-ended a parked trailer. The victim died instantly.

Initial investigation by the California Highway Patrol showed that the big-rig trailer stopped on the shoulder after having trouble with the trailer. The big rig driver said he detached the trailed and called in for help when a car suddenly appeared and crashed into the trailer.

The police are still trying to determine how fast the car was running when it collided with the parked trailer.

Meanwhile, four persons died when a car struck a bridge support pillar on the Santa Monica Freeway and erupted into flames, causing police to close down two lanes of the westbound freeway for almost half an hour.

But despite their quick response and rescue attempt, firefighters and paramedics were not able to save the passengers from the “traumatic collision”.

Police said the victims were beyond recognition. The identities of the four occupants of the car are yet to be determined.

In another unrelated accident, authorities are searching for the driver of a 1994 gray Acura Integra who fled the scene after getting involved in dramatic collision in southwest Los Angeles that left one of his two passengers dead.

It started around 2 a.m., when the gray Acura, traveling southbound on Normandie Avenue, struck another car stopped at the left turn lane at 26th Street.

Police said the Acura sped away on Normandie Avenue at speeds of 70 to 80 mph but struck a parked truck on the other side of the street. The car then spun counter clockwise and crashed into a nearby wooden house.

The residents in the house were unharmed, the police reported.