The crash happened on Interstate 5. NBC 7’s Ramon Galindo reports.
One person was killed and another was seriously injured when a car traveling the wrong way on Interstate 5 slammed into a tow truck in a fiery crash on Interstate 5 in Logan Heights early Saturday.
California Highway Patrol (CHP) officials said the deadly, head-on crash happened at around 12:10 a.m. on northbound I-5 just north of Interstate 15.
CHP officers received several phone calls moments before the crash reporting a driver in a sports car traveling the wrong way on the freeway near 28th Street.
Minutes later, CHP officers received more emergency calls, this time reporting the driver of the sports car had plowed into the driver of the tow truck on northbound I-5 at 32nd Street.
When emergency crews arrived, both the tow truck and the car were in flames, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) Chief Ted Moran said.
CHP said the driver of the car was killed in the crash; the tow truck driver suffered burns and major injuries and was taken to UC San Diego Medical Center.
Witnesses told NBC 7 the driver of the tow truck managed to get himself out of the wreckage before it fully burned. He was seen running over to the wrong-way driver's car, trying to help him as the flames consumed the car.
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Witness Donald Salaam told NBC 7 he was in utter shock when he saw the car and tow truck collide.
“My first instinct is like, ‘Okay, first thing is I gotta call 911 and get this person the help they need,’” he said. “It’s crazy, just looking at the situation.”
The accident prompted CHP officers to shut down traffic in both directions on I-5 for several hours overnight. All lanes have now reopened.
The deadly collision is under investigation; it is unknown, at this point, if alcohol played a factor. The names of both drivers have not yet been released.
This is the second such deadly, wrong-way crash on Interstate 5 in as many days.
Early Friday morning, two drivers crashed head-on on I-5 at Mission Avenue in Oceanside. Both drivers died. Alcohol is suspected in the Oceanside crash.
