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A speeding motorist was drunk when he smashed his car into guardrails on the 10 freeway early Sunday morning; The 19-year-old driver was killed but his two teenaged passengers escaped the fiery wreck, CHP officers said.
The crash was reported at 1:35 a.m. in the transition from westbound Interstate 10 to northbound Highway 1 approaching the McClure Tunnel and Pacific Coast Highway, California Highway Patrol Officer Patrick Kimball told City News Service.
The driver was later identified as Giovanny Soto, 19, of Bell, by the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, Santa Monica Patch reports.
Officer Kimball said investigators believe the 2001 Ford Mustang struck the metal guardrail on the north side of the freeway, went up an embankment and struck a concrete wall. The Mustang ended up facing the wrong way, blocking both lanes and catching fire.
The driver was trapped inside the car and died in the flames, the CHP said. Amazingly, two male passengers, aged 16 and 19, were able to escape as two more cars, a 2008 Audi A4 and a Jeep Cherokee crashed into the wreckage.
No one in the other cars was injured, but the 19-year-old Mustang passenger had cuts to his face, CNS reports. Paramedics rushed him to a hospital with what were described as moderate injuries. The 16-year-old boy had minor cuts to the left hand, and was also taken
to a hospital.
Driver in fiery crash on 10 Fwy identified as 19-year-old Bell resident: http://t.co/HXSA4QIly1
— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) September 15, 2013