3 Dead After Suspected DUI Crash in Granada Hills

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 28 people die in DUI crashes each day. That means that one person dies approximately every 59 minutes. Driving after drinking is a deadly combination, and such accidents are 100% preventable. 

KTLA reports that three people were killed, and a fourth person was injured, in a fiery two-vehicle crash in Granada Hills on Saturday. It is believed that a drunk driver may likely have been the cause of the tragedy.

Officials said that the crash happened just after midnight at the 118 and the 405 Freeway interchange. Eyewitnesses say that a driver of a Mercedes Coupe on the 118 began to cross multiple lanes of traffic, then veered into a Mercedes Sedan that was stopped in the far right lane of the southbound 405.

The force of the impact sent the Mercedes Sedan into a retaining wall, where it burst into flames. The Mercedes Coupe, driven by an unidentified man from Glendale, ended back into the 118 transition lanes, where it blocked all lanes of traffic.

Investigators say that all three people inside the Mercedes Sedan could not escape from the burning vehicle. Paramedics rushed the Glendale man in the Mercedes Coupe to an area hospital with major, potentially life-threatening injuries.  

A spokesperson from the California Highway Patrol said that it is unclear why the Mercedes Sedan was stopped. Investigators believe that the Glendale man was intoxicated at the time of the fatal crash.

 

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