Local News in Brief : Two Die in Freeway Leaps

Two men leaped to their deaths from freeway overpasses in Glendale and downtown Los Angeles Friday morning, authorities said.

In the first incident, Garabet Vartanian, 44, of Glendale jumped from the Glendale Avenue overpass onto the congested Ventura Freeway at 7:40 a.m., forcing officials to close the westbound fast lane for two hours. He was pronounced dead at the scene after he bounced off on car and was run over by a second, California Highway Patrol Sgt. Walter Nowakowski said.

At 9:38 a.m., an unidentified man believed to be in his mid-40s plunged from the 6th Street bridge onto the northbound Harbor Freeway.