Drunk-Driving Suspect Rams 2 Cars on Wrong Side of Freeway

A suspected drunk driver going southbound in northbound lanes of the 605 freeway through Lakewood early this morning slammed into two cars--one a courier car carrying $5 million in securities--causing an accident that left four people injured, officials said.

The driver of a pickup truck, Frank Carillo Bazan, 20, of Pico Rivera, was driving the wrong way in the northbound lanes of the San Gabriel River Freeway near Carson at 12:20 a.m. when he smashed into a Mercedes-Benz, California Highway Patrol Officer Lyle Whitten said.

A factory-installed air bag in the Mercedes was credited with saving the life of the car’s driver, Mariellen Day, 46, Whitten said.

“It was a head-on collision, and she could easily have been killed,” Whitten said. “But she came out of it really well, and there’s no question she has the air bag to thank.”

Day and her husband, who was in the car’s front passenger seat and whose name was not immediately known, were taken to Pioneer Hospital in Artesia, where they were listed in good condition.

Bazan was also taken to Pioneer Hospital, where he was arrested on suspicion of felony drunk driving. He was listed in serious condition with moderate injuries, Whitten said.

After hitting the Mercedes head-on, Bazan’s truck spun and struck another car, driven by James McIntyre, 24, of Newport Beach, who was carrying $5 million in securities for an undisclosed Southern California company, Whitten said.

McIntyre suffered severe facial lacerations and was complaining of chest pains. The securities were transferred to another courier car, Whitten said.