Man Killed in Dash Across Freeway

A 30-year-old Los Angeles man was struck by two cars and killed late Saturday as he tried to run across Interstate 5 after California Highway Patrol officers had stopped the van in which he was riding.

The CHP received a call about 11 p.m. from a motorist using a car phone who had been following a possible drunk driver, Sgt. Diane Hartz said. CHP officers waited at the Avery Parkway on-ramp, saw a van drive by erratically at about 35 m.p.h. and followed it. The van pulled to the right shoulder south of Crown Valley Parkway, where two men jumped out the passenger door and ran north along the shoulder with two CHP officers in pursuit.

The men ran across the northbound lanes and climbed over the center divider fence. One man was struck twice by cars in the southbound lanes, Hartz said. He died immediately from severe injuries, Hartz said.

The dead man, Hector Munos, 30, of Los Angeles, was identified Sunday afternoon after his wife called the CHP.

The other man, believed to be the driver, made it across the freeway and escaped into a business area. CHP officials were unable to find him despite a search with dogs and helicopters, although they believe that they can identify him because he contacted Munos’ wife after the accident.

“We don’t know why they ran. The car was not stolen. About the best we can think of is maybe he had a suspended license. He had no license or any identification on him,” Hartz said.