13 Injured in 37-Car Pileup on Santa Monica Freeway

A speeding motorist who lost control of her car set off a series of collisions among 37 vehicles Saturday morning that injured 13 people and blocked traffic for hours on the Santa Monica Freeway near La Brea Avenue, authorities said.

About 50 people were involved in the massive crash, including one person whose pickup truck was pinned under the rear of an 18-wheel tractor-trailer. After firefighters worked for more than an hour to free him, the young man emerged from the wreckage shaken but unscathed.

Mangled cars and trucks, which took about three hours to clear, were strewn along the eastbound lanes of the freeway for almost three-fourths of a mile. Traffic backed up for at least three miles as authorities tended to crash victims and removed the wreckage.

Paramedics checked 26 people at the scene for injuries and half were sent to local hospitals, said Brian Humphrey, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department. Three were reported in critical condition with chest, neck and back injuries. Two of them, including a 76-year-old man, also broke their pelvises.

Authorities said the collisions started about 7:10 a.m. when the driver veered out of control while entering the Santa Monica Freeway from the southbound La Brea on-ramp.

The car shot across the freeway, setting off 17 collisions before it finally came to rest in the fast lane without being hit by another vehicle. The California Highway Patrol reported that the driver, a 22-year-old Los Angeles woman, was speeding at the time of the crash.

“I saw this semi-truck swerving in front of me,” said Linda Hronek of Santa Monica. “I said, ‘Oh my God.’ I pulled off to the side of the road and stopped. I was at a dead stop when a car smacked into another car, and that car was pushed into my car. It was a terrible mess.”

The pileup happened five miles west of Downtown Los Angeles, not far from where a large segment of the freeway collapsed in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The freeway is a busy connector between Downtown and Santa Monica.

CHP officers said an unexpected summer shower dampened the freeway minutes before the crash and might have contributed to the accident as motorists suddenly braked on the slick pavement.

Ernest Ballenger of Los Angeles, who was driving a pickup truck carrying his 13-year-old grandson, was able to avoid the car in front of him but was hit from behind. Neither were hurt in the crash.

“Traffic just started stopping and everyone started slamming into each other,” Ballenger said. “I had come to a complete stop. The lady behind me tried to sway to the right but couldn’t and skidded right into me.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.