4 hurt, southbound 5 Freeway closed in O.C. after police chase
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A police chase late Friday afternoon ended in a crash that injured four people and forced the closure of the southbound 5 Freeway in south Orange County, snarling traffic for miles, authorities said.
All southbound lanes of the 5 at Camino de Estrella are closed as police investigate the crash, and there’s ‘tons of traffic all around,’ said Sgt. Bob Dunn, a spokesman for the Anaheim Police Department.
Shortly after 4 p.m., Anaheim police received an anonymous tip that a white Ford F-250 pickup truck had been stolen and was possibly in the area of Sunkist Street and Wagner Avenue in Anaheim, Dunn said.
When officers began following the pickup, ‘the driver accelerated almost immediately,’ Dunn said, and got onto the freeway. Officers pursued the pickup, which had three people in it, at speeds of about 90 mph, he said.
The pickup hit another vehicle near the Camino de Estrella exit. The pickup’s driver lost control and struck the freeway’s center divider, causing the pickup to flip several times, Dunn said.
The pickup driver was ejected and is hospitalized in critical condition, Dunn said. The two passengers were also taken to a hospital but were not injured as severely as the driver, he said.
The driver of the car the pickup hit said he had some pain and was taken to a hospital as well, Dunn said.
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-- Hailey Branson-Potts
