Car reportedly loses power on 405 Freeway in Costa Mesa, resulting in multiple collisions with 8 injured
Two people were hospitalized early Thursday after a vehicle driving southbound on the 405 Freeway in Costa Mesa reportedly lost power, causing two separate collisions that closed down three lanes of traffic for more than an hour, officials reported.
Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue Battalion Chief Chris Coates was on duty and responded to a call that came in shortly after 5 a.m. Thursday regarding a multiple-vehicle collision on the freeway near the Harbor Boulevard exit.
“We heard a report there were four vehicles involved, and it came in as a rollover,” Coates said. “Units got on scene within five to seven minutes and initiated triage.”
Coates said witnesses from the initial vehicle stated they were traveling in the HOV lane when the vehicle lost power, causing the exterior and interior lights to go out. It’s unclear what happened next, but the battalion chief said the scene was spread across an area of about 200 feet.
“There were eight victims involved in the accident with injuries ranging from moderate to very minor,” he said.
Six of the victims either refused to be transported for medical treatment or exhibited injuries non-serious in nature, while two were taken to Orange County Global Medical Center in Irvine and treated for non-life-threatening injuries, according to Coates.
Juan Martinez Tovar of Santa Ana was walking on Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach on Wednesday morning when a 59-year-old driver from Newport Beach hit him, Huntington Beach police said.
Officer Monica Posada, from the California Highway Patrol Station in Irvine, confirmed the incident resulted in two separate collisions — one involving three vehicles and another between two vehicles, according to an incident report.
A SigAlert was issued, and the HOV lane and two other lanes were closed to traffic while the scene was cleared, Posada said. All lanes were reopened by 6:33 a.m., the report indicated.
Although initial reports indicated a possible rollover accident, Coates, who was on scene, said no vehicles appeared to be overturned and all the victims were able to extricate themselves from the wreckage.
The cause of the incident is being investigated by the Santa Ana CHP station officers, who did not immediately respond to requests for information Thursday morning.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.
