Woman Dies in Crash at Checkpoint on I-5

A 47-year-old woman burned to death Friday after her car was struck from the rear as she slowed while approaching the Border Patrol checkpoint south of San Clemente, the California Highway Patrol reported.

Luana Maria Balugo, 47, of Los Angeles, was pronounced dead at the scene. She was an assistant vice president of First Interstate Bank in Los Angeles, said County Coroner’s Deputy Dan Matticks.

Balugo was northbound on Interstate 5 at 6 a.m. about a quarter-mile south of the checkpoint, when the driver behind her, Trotsky L. Boyce, 28, of San Diego, struck the rear of her car. Boyce was going about 45 m.p.h., Balugo about 15 m.p.h., said CHP Officer Jerry Bohrer.

Boyce’s car then hit a third car, he added.

CHP Officer Brian Ward, who was manning the nearby truck scales, tried unsuccessfully to rescue Balugo from her burning car, Bohrer said. Ward was able to pull Boyce from the burning wreckage of his car.

Two people in the third car were treated for minor injuries at San Clemente Hospital and released. Boyce was reported in fair condition Friday afternoon in the intensive-care unit at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo.

I-5 was closed and traffic was backed up for four miles for an hour Friday morning, Bohrer said. He said police “are in dire need of witnesses” because no one stopped at the crash scene.