A head-on collision with a wrong-way driver left one man dead and three others critically injured Friday in downtown Los Angeles.
The crash was reported at 2:49 a.m. and officers from the California Highway Patrol responded to the northbound Harbor (110) Freeway at Exposition Boulevard, where they found the victim and several vehicles — including a taxi — blocking the right lanes of the freeway, a CHP spokesman told City News Service.
The fatally injured man was identified as Ken Balayev, 71, of Calabasas, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.
Fox 11 reported a woman driving a black sedan southbound in the northbound lanes smashed into the victim, who was driving a taxi. Three people were hospitalized in critical condition.
The crash closed all lanes of the northbound freeway while an investigation was conducted. The lanes were reopened shortly after 6 a.m., the CHP reported.