LOCAL : Wrong-Way Driver Dies in Crash
A Santa Ana man driving the wrong way on Bristol Street in Santa Ana was killed early today when his truck flipped after colliding with a car and ramming a light pole.
The man was heading north in the southbound lane near 17th Street when his truck broadsided a car, slid into a curb, hit a light pole and flipped over, said Santa Ana police spokeswoman Maureen Thomas. The truck had been traveling at about 35 m.p.h., she said.
Alcohol was found that was unopened, Thomas said. The victim and a passenger “had been drinking at some point prior to the accident,” she added.
The passenger, Aldo Fernando Sanchez, 20, also of Santa Ana, ran to the campus at Rancho Santiago College where police found him shortly after arriving at the scene.
“He was not trying to flee the scene,” Thomas said. “He was traumatized by the accident. He told investigators he was afraid.”
Sanchez and the driver of the truck had moved here from Mexico several weeks ago, she said. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver and a passenger in the car suffered minor injuries, Thomas said. She did not know their identities.
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