A 24-year-old motorist who was not wearing a seat belt was killed Sunday morning in a fiery crash on the San Gabriel River (605) Freeway in north Long Beach, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The death car drifted across all the freeway lanes and rammed the center divider before bursting into flames. A Good Samaratin desperately tried, but failed, to get the driver safely out of the wreck.
It wasn’t clear why the driver’s vehicle crashed. An early morning SigAlert was called as the freeway was shut down, but the incident was cleared and traffic was flowing normally after about two hours.
The name of the victim, who was a resident of Buena Park, will be released pending notification of next of kin.
The crash took place at 2:35 a.m. on the northbound 605 Freeway, just south of Carson Street, according to CHP Officer Alex Rubio.
The motorist was driving a 2014 Toyota Corolla northbound when the car veered towards the shoulder and then across all lanes of traffic. The vehicle then hit the concrete center divider and came to rest. The driver was not wearing a seatbelt, the CHP reported.
The Good Samaritan tried to pull the victim out of the car, according to the CHP. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.
The crash initially closed the carpool and No. 1 lanes, according to the CHP. But later all northbound lanes were temporarily closed so firefighters could extinguish the car fire and the CHP could conduct its accident and death investigation.
The CHP declared a SigAlert at 3:08 a.m. The CHP reopened the Nos. 3 and 4 lanes at 3:30 a.m. The remaining lanes were reopened just after 5 a.m. and the SigAlert was canceled.
The CHP’s Santa Fe Springs office asked anyone who saw the crash to call them at (562) 868-0503.
— STaff and wire reports