The Angeles Crest Highway is a two-lane highway located in the mountainous region north of the Los Angeles basin. Passing through the Angeles National Forest and the San Gabriel Mountains, the roadway is one of the highest in Southern California. The highway was closed in early 2010 after mudslides and rock avalanches threatened the areas between the I-210 junction and La Canada. The highway was finally reopened for passenger traffic on June 3.
However, tragedy soon struck the roadway as CHP reports two, separate, fatal accidents over the weekend. Both accident occurred on Friday in the afternoon hours. In the first incident, a 21-year old Pasadena resident lost control of his vehicle and collided with a tree near mile marker 31. Preliminary investigations reveal that alcohol may have played a factor in the young man’s death, toxicology results will not be available for a number of weeks.
The second incident took place around 4:30pm on Friday and involved a Monterey Park man who seemingly drove off the road from a straightaway and plummeted 675 feet to his death below the roadway. The 2008 sedan was hoisted back to the road way with hundreds of feet of rope. The driver, who has yet to be identified, was wearing his seatbelt at the time but suffered blunt trauma to his skull that ultimately resulted in his demise. He was pronounced dead on the scene. Another motorist witnesses the crash and immediately alerted a nearby patrol car who summoned Montrose Search and Rescue.
It is certainly a shame to see two fatalities on the same afternoon, on the same stretch of roadway and within miles of one another. The coincidence of such occurrences is almost unbelievable.
Other weekend incidents included the closing of several lanes of the Bay Bridge on Saturday afternoon after a man was contemplating jumping from the edge. The closures took place between 2:50pm and 4:50pm on Saturday and fortunately the individual did not decide to jump off the bridge and was talked down by expert negotiators. CHP rejoiced that although many people were inconvenienced, no one was hurt or killed; a statement CHP is often unable to make at accident scenes.
Saturday night, CHP was involved in a vehicle chase and ultimate shoot-out in Sacramento. The suspect was cornered in his neighborhood and attempted to flee in his vehicle to evade police. The suspect backed up his vehicle and collided with a CHP cruiser. At that point, CHP fired a number of shots toward the individual, hitting him repeatedly. His current condition is unavailable and it is reported that alcohol was involved in the incident.
