6 Dead in Wrong-Way Driver Crash in California

POMONA, Calif. (AP) —

A wrong-way driver on a Southern California freeway was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving after causing a pre-dawn crash with multiple vehicles Sunday that left six people dead, a highway patrol officer told the Los Angeles Times.

Police arrested the 21-year-old driver on suspicion of felony driving under the influence and felony manslaughter in connection with the 4:40 a.m. accident on the westbound Pomona freeway, or State Route 60, in Diamond Bar, said Rodrigo Jimenez, a California Highway Patrol spokesman on the scene, who spoke to the Los Angeles Times.

The driver was in serious condition at a Los Angeles County hospital with a broken femur and a ruptured bladder, Jimenez said.

Investigators “believe from what they found in the vehicle that alcohol was involved,” Los Angeles County Coroner’s Lt. Fred Corral told the newspaper.

Jimenez said the woman was traveling east in a red Chevy Camaro when it collided head-on with a red Ford Explorer. The sequence of events involving the other vehicles was not immediately clear.

Four people were pronounced dead at the scene, and two people died at an area hospital, authorities said. The freeway lanes in both directions were closed for hours Sunday.

To Read The Full Story

Are you already a subscriber?
Click to log in!