Big-Rig Trucks, Cars Pile Up on Freeway; 4 Hurt

Two people suffered minor injuries when nine big-rig trucks and a car slammed into each other on the rain-slick Golden State Freeway near Sylmar Monday morning. And in an apparently unrelated accident minutes later less than a mile away, two more trucks collided with a car, injuring two persons, authorities said.

The first accident, a 10-vehicle chain-reaction collision, began at 11:40 a.m., when the driver of a large truck swerved and braked to avoid hitting a pickup truck on the southbound Golden State Freeway truck ramp north of Balboa Boulevard, said California Highway Patrol Officer Richard Johnson. The big-rig truck jackknifed out of control and was struck by three other trucks, one of which overturned.

Another truck and a small foreign car driven by a 41-year-old Canyon Country woman stopped just short of the accident, but were struck by a tanker truck, Johnson said.

The driver of a seventh truck, whose trailer overturned as he tried to avoid hitting the other vehicles, was struck by an eighth truck. Moments later, another truck overturned while trying to avoid the accident, Johnson said.

“It was a big mess,” Johnson said. “It looked like a war zone.”

He said many of the truck drivers were traveling too fast for the slippery conditions, but said it is not yet known whether any of the drivers will be cited.

Several thousand gallons of refined crude oil leaked from an 8,000-gallon tanker truck that overturned in the crash, he said.

‘I Hit My Breaks’

Two of the truck drivers were taken by a Los Angeles County Fire Department helicopter to Holy Cross Hospital in Mission Hills, Johnson said. James Cotton, 42, of Azusa, was treated for a knee injury. The other driver, Donald Wilson, 45, of Bakersfield, was in stable condition with several broken ribs and a bruised shoulder, a hospital spokeswoman said.

“It was raining and I was coming south on (Interstate) 5 where (California) 14 comes into 5,” said Wilson, who was heading to San Pedro with a load of oil. “I went down through the tunnel and when I came out of the tunnel, two trucks had the road blocked. I couldn’t get around either side of them, so I hit my brakes and jackknifed.

“The front windshield went out and I crawled through the front and I got away as fast as I could because I thought it might catch fire. I looked back and there was one truck crashing after another,” he said. “It was weird.” Meanwhile, as emergency crews were arriving on the scene of that accident, two big-rig trucks collided with a car on the transition road from the Antelope Valley Freeway to the Golden State Freeway at 11:58 a.m.

Two victims of this accident were taken by ambulance to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia. A hospital spokeswoman said a woman passenger in the cab of one truck was in good condition. The driver of the other truck, Charles Fyffe, 38, of Pasadena, was in good condition with a possible concussion and bruises. The driver of the car was unhurt.

Truck lanes on the Golden State Freeway were shut down for more than six hours. The accident contributed to traffic tie-ups on the freeway’s north and southbound lanes for several hours, Johnson said.