Crashes, including one fatality, tie up early morning traffic on local freeways

It was a treacherous morning on local freeways Thursday morning, with one driver killed in a crash on the 134 Freeway in Toluca Lake and a big rig that jackknifed, at one point closing all lanes of the 5 Freeway in Glendale.

In the westbound 134 Freeway crash, one person was killed and traffic was backed up for miles.At least two vehicles were involved in the crash at Cahuenga Boulevard. The collision, which was reported to the Los Angeles Fire Department around 4:30 a.m., closed several westbound lanes.

Two other people suffered minor injuries in the crash, officials said.

Earlier in the morning, authorities said a semi-truck was traveling north on the 5 Freeway in Glendale when it hit the center divider about 2:21 a.m. and jackknifed, blocking the northbound lanes and dumping debris across the southbound lanes.

Officials told KABC-TV that about 20 drivers got flat tires or other damage to their cars, but no injuries were reported.

“I have three flat tires. I have front and back bumpers, they’re broken. I don’t know what happened under the car, so I got to check it out tomorrow,” driver Martik Sargysan told the television station.

The California Highway Patrol reopened the southbound lanes just after 6:30 a.m., but the northbound traffic continued to be diverted until about 8 a.m.

Officials told L.A. Times it was unclear whether the rain had anything to do with the accident.

The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.

--Jason Wells, Times Community News

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