Series of crashes on 210 Freeway kills two
The eastbound 210 Freeway was closed for nearly 10 hours Friday in Irwindale after a series of traffic accidents left two people dead.
At least seven vehicles were involved in the crashes, according to the California Highway Patrol.
A preliminary CHP report outlines this sequence of events:
Two cars collided at 5:47 a.m. The drivers of those cars then pulled to the side of the freeway and were standing outside their vehicles when the driver of a stake-bed truck changed lanes to avoid the crash. The truck, in turn, was rear-ended by another stake-bed truck, which veered into the initial two cars and injured the drivers standing outside.
The driver of the second truck, Maximiliano M. Medina, 28, was ejected from his vehicle and died of blunt-force trauma.
The CHP report says that three other vehicles were involved in the crash: a Ford Focus, whose driver, Sandra Resford, 73, suffered fatal injuries; a Foothill Transit bus without passengers on board; and a GMC pickup truck. The report says authorities had not yet determined how those vehicles were involved.
Authorities closed a segment of the freeway so a medevac helicopter could land and remove injured commuters and then, later, so debris from the crashes could be cleared. The accidents jammed traffic throughout the San Gabriel Valley. CHP officials reopened the freeway about 3 p.m.
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