Suspected Drunk Motorist Held in Crash That Kills 2

A suspected drunk driver Friday evening plowed into oncoming traffic on the Pomona Freeway, killing two men and injuring two others in a four-vehicle collision, the California Highway Patrol said.

The accident forced the closure of all eastbound lanes for several miles of the roadway for about three hours and caused a massive traffic jam in westbound lanes.

Daniel Carrasco, 19, of El Monte was expected to be booked on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and felony drunk driving, CHP Officer Richard Perez said. Carrasco, who suffered several broken bones and other injuries in the 6:15 p.m. collision, was hospitalized in serious condition at Loma Linda University Medical Center.

Carrasco was traveling west at about 65 m.p.h. in the fast lane of the freeway when he tried to pass slower-moving traffic near Benson Avenue by using a dirt center divider, Perez said.

Carrasco then lost control of his van and careened into eastbound lanes, slamming into a pickup truck and killing its driver, a 28-year-old Moreno Valley man whose name was not released until his family could be notified, Perez said. A passenger in Carrasco’s van, a 21-year-old El Monte man whose name also was not immediately released, was also killed.