Driver Burned to Death, 4 Hurt in Crash

A Glendale man burned to death in a five-car pileup Thursday morning that injured four other motorists and closed the southbound Golden State Freeway in Valencia for nearly two hours, the California Highway Patrol reported.

Tahmas Tahmassebian, 42, died in the 12:05 a.m. accident in the southbound lanes of the freeway near the Lyons Avenue exit, authorities said.

Officers said the accident occurred when Tahmassebian, driving south, lost control of his Mercedes-Benz and crashed into the freeway’s center divider. About two minutes earlier, a motorist with a car phone had called the CHP and reported that the Mercedes was weaving across lanes of the freeway, the CHP reported.

Car Rebounded

After hitting the center divider, the Mercedes rebounded into the second lane of the freeway and came to a stop, Officer Ralph Elvira said. Two other southbound cars swerved around it and also stopped, he said. Another car could not stop in time and attempted to pass between the stopped cars but hit all three, knocking one of them into a passing pickup truck.

“Cars were going all over the place,” Elvira said.

The Mercedes burst into flames and Tahmassebian apparently burned to death, Elvira said.

All southbound lanes of the freeway were closed while the fire was extinguished and the wreckage was cleared. Elvira said traffic backed up two miles before the freeway was reopened about 90 minutes after the accident.

Three drivers and a passenger from the other cars involved in the accident were hospitalized.

Colleen Weeks, 25, of Fresno was in critical condition at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Newhall, and Jerry Gragnani, 40, of Fresno was in stable condition at Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, officials said.

Gragnani’s passenger, Anna Sandoval, 34, of Fresno was treated and released at Holy Cross. Francisco Gutierrez, 49, of San Fernando was treated at Henry Mayo Newhall for minor injuries, officials said.