2 Killed in Related Freeway Collisions

Two women were killed and three people were seriously injured in two related accidents on the Golden State Freeway south of Newhall late Saturday and early Sunday, authorities said.

In the first accident, about 10 p.m. on Saturday, a woman was killed and three people were injured when their car struck another car that had stopped suddenly on the freeway, California Highway Patrol Officer Harry Ingold said. The two cars burst into flames.

Francisco Cobarrubias, 52, of San Fernando had slowed his car to about 10 m.p.h., then had stopped, Ingold said.

Cobarrubias’ behavior was “due to a state of intoxication from PCP,” Ingold said.

The woman’s car, a Honda, had been traveling north at about 55 m.p.h. near the junction of the Antelope Valley Freeway when the accident occurred, Officer Kent Buzbee said.

Velda Mackey, 25, of Los Angeles, a passenger in the Honda, was pronounced dead at the scene, Buzbee said. A 6-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl were flown by helicopter to UCLA Medical Center, and the 29-year-old driver was taken by helicopter to Holy Cross Hospital in Mission Hills, authorities said.

Authorities declined to release the names of the injured.

Cobarrubias was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, Buzbee said. Alexandro Soto, 31, a passenger in Cobarrubias’ car, was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of a drug, Buzbee said. Neither was injured.

Less than three hours later, a Palmdale woman was killed when her car struck the rear of a tanker truck that had stopped for emergency cleanup crew members who were clearing the site of the earlier accident, Ingold said.

The unidentified 67-year-old woman was northbound, traveling about 65 m.p.h. north of Roxford Street about 12:40 a.m. when she apparently failed to see that a truck had stopped in front of her, Buzbee said. She was taken to Holy Cross Hospital in Mission Hills, where she died at 1:23 a.m., Buzbee said.

Authorities declined to identify the woman until her relatives could be notified.

The driver of the truck, Joe Trevino, 43, of Bakersfield was not injured, Buzbee said.