Fatal Wrong-Way Crashes Happened Within 10 Minutes, 60 Miles Apart
PORTER RANCH (CBSLA) — The coroner's office released the identities of three people killed in separate wrong-way crashes Sunday.
The early Sunday morning crashes happened within the span of 10 minutes, but on different freeways nearly 60 miles away from each other.
The driver who crashed head-on into a car on the Ronald Reagan (118) Freeway was identified as 30-year-old James Gubera Jr. of Los Angeles. He was apparently driving west in the east bound lanes a little before 12:25 a.m. approaching De Soto Avenue and slammed into a 2003 Lexus driven by a 38-year-old Simi Valley man, whose name was not yet released.
Both drivers were pronounced dead at the scene, coroner's investigator Trini Godoy said.
A passenger in the Lexus, 25-year-old Brooklyn Acker, also of Simi Valley, was taken to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills with major injuries, according to the California Highway Patrol.
At 12:35 a.m., 21-year-old Valerie Venegas, of Whittier, drove north onto the southbound lanes of the 605 Freeway in Baldwin Park. According to the coroner's Lt. Larry Dietz, her Honda Odyssey minivan hit a 2013 Dodge Challenger head-on, driven by Anthony Thompson Jr., 24, of Compton.
Both Venegas and Thompson were pronounced dead at the scene.
A passenger in the Dodge Challenger, 23-year-old Leticia Lopez of Los Angeles, suffered a fractured right foot and a collapsed lung in the crash.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)