Man Killed as Car Collides With Vehicle Going Wrong Way

An Irvine man was killed early Saturday morning and two other people were critically injured in a fiery two-car collision triggered by a confused motorist who drove for miles on the wrong side of the San Diego Freeway, the California Highway Patrol said.

The 4:20 a.m. accident, which CHP officials believe to be alcohol-related, closed all but one lane of the northbound freeway at the Bristol Street off-ramp for three hours as traffic investigators sorted through the wreckage, CHP spokeswoman Linda Burrus said.

Sang In Ahn, 50, a civil engineer, was pronounced dead at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange after he was airlifted to the hospital’s trauma center, Burrus said. His wife, Ook-Ja Ahn, 47, was listed in critical condition at the same hospital with fractures and facial injuries.

The driver of the car heading in the wrong direction was identified as Faith L. Robinson, 23, of Huntington Beach, who was taken to Western Medical Center for treatment. She was also listed in critical condition with multiple fractures, including a broken nose and wrist, and other injuries.

Burrus said that CHP dispatchers began receiving reports of a motorist driving a dark car the wrong way on the northbound freeway as far north as Westminster. By the time the CHP was positioned to stop the driver, the car had passed the Santa Ana riverbed and Fairview Road.

But before units could reach Robinson’s dark-blue, 1983 Buick Regal, it slammed head-on into Ahn’s maroon, 1985 Cadillac Sedan de Ville, Burrus said. Robinson was alone in her car.

“We were only a minute away from catching (Robinson),” Burrus said.

The impact was so severe that the Buick exploded in flames, Burrus said. A passing motorist jumped out of his car and put the flames out with a fire extinguisher before CHP units arrived, she said.

Minutes later, a Toyota pickup truck was unable to stop and struck both mangled cars.

The driver of the pickup truck, Corey J. Bailey, 16, of Huntington Beach, was not injured.