The coroner Monday released the name of a 39-year-old wrong-way motorist who was killed in a head-on crash on the Ventura (101) Freeway in Studio City that injured another driver.
Even though he was identified, there was still no word of the cause of the deadly crash, nor why the driver was driving on the wrong side of the freeway. Officials did not indicate if drugs or alcohol were involved.
The man who died was Richard Dominguez of Alhambra, said coroner’s Lt. Larry Dietz. The crash took place about 4 a.m. Saturday in the westbound lanes of the 101 Freeway, just west of Tujunga Avenue, where the Ventura (134) Freeway becomes the 101, according to CHP Officer Patrick Kimball.
The wrong-way motorist, now identified as Dominguez, was traveling eastbound in the No. 1 lane of the westbound 101, the CHP reported. No information was released on what caused him to enter the wrong side of the freeway.
Dominguez died at the scene at 4:24 a.m., Kimball said. He had been driving a 1997 Honda.
The injured 27-year-old man, who was driving a 2015 Lexus, was extricated from his vehicle by city fire department paramedics and was transported to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with minor injuries, according to the fire department.
— Staff and wire reports