Fatality Ends Wrong-Way 10-Mile Drive

A wrong-way driver who terrified Foothill Freeway commuters Tuesday morning as he sped 10 miles westbound in the eastbound lanes, finally caused an accident that left a Newhall man dead and himself seriously injured, officials said.

Both the alleged wrong-way driver, Alexito Manuva, 34, of West Covina, and the victim, Frank Rodriguez, 20, were airlifted from the crash site just west of the Lowell Avenue exit in Glendale to Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena. Rodriguez was pronounced dead at the hospital, said California Highway Patrol Officer Gretchen Jacobs.

Manuva underwent surgery for massive blunt chest trauma, Toni Miller, a hospital spokeswoman, said. CHP officials intend to prosecute Manuva if he survives, Jacobs said.

“If he does not expire, he will be charged with murder,” she said.

Prior to the crash, numerous frightened drivers called emergency numbers from their car phones to report the wrong-way driver.

One of the call-in witnesses, Darcy Shepherd, told CHP officers the car was traveling at about 70 mph.

“It was kind of a shock, you don’t expect to see it,” Shepherd said later. “It was a very, very abnormal thing to see.”

The accident occurred about 11:50 a.m., with debris falling across a wide area. The two mangled cars stretched across three of the four lanes of traffic, Jacobs said.

CHP officials said they did not know why Manuva, who got turned around near where the Foothill Freeway meets the Ventura Freeway in Pasadena, drove such a long distance in the wrong lanes.

“We do not know if he had drugs in his system, we do not know if he was suicidal, we do not know if he was not right in the head,” Jacobs said. Blood taken from Manuva will be tested for intoxicants, she said.

The incident began when Manuva, driving a Honda Accord east on the Foothill Freeway, was apparently trying to exit at Del Mar Boulevard, Jacobs said.

In moving from the left to right lanes, he forced a Mercedes-Benz off the right shoulder and lost control of his own car, spinning it 180 degrees. The driver of the Mercedes was not injured, Jacobs said.

Manuva continued on the wrong way, swerving in and out of lanes, witnesses said.

At one point during his 10-mile ride into traffic, he sideswiped a Toyota driven by Samuel Castro, 52, of Arcadia. The side mirrors of both cars hit each other, Jacobs said, but Castro was not injured.

Near the Lowell exit, Manuva collided head-on with Rodriguez’s Ford Mustang.

Due to the amount of debris on the freeway, officials said it wasn’t clear whether either car ever braked.

The crash halted traffic in both directions. Westbound traffic was opened after an hour, but the eastbound lanes were blocked for three hours, according to Glendale Fire Department officials.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

1.

Car, driven by Manuva, forces a Mercedes-Benz off the road and is turned around, heading the wrong way on the 210 Freeway.

2. Manuva proceeds west in the eastbound lanes, sideswiping at least one car.

3. Site of fatal crash.