Support for LAist comes from
We Explain L.A.
Stay Connected

Share This

This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.

This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

News

Wrong-Way Crash On 110 Freeway Kills Two In Downtown

We need to hear from you.
Today during our spring member drive, put a dollar value on the trustworthy reporting you rely on all year long. The local news you read here every day is crafted for you, but right now, we need your help to keep it going. In these uncertain times, your support is even more important. We can't hold those in power accountable and uplift voices from the community without your partnership. Thank you.

Two men were killed early this morning in a high-speed, wrong-way crash on the 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles.

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies said that they were attempting to pull over a white Acura weaving through traffic on the Southbound 110 Freeway when the car pulled over to the shoulder, made a U-turn and attempted to escape into oncoming traffic. The car was reportedly going 100 mph when it crashed head-on into a pick-up truck just south of Wilshire Blvd., according to KTLA.

Witnesses called in to report the wrong-way driver around 1:19 a.m., and shortly after deputies spotted the wreckage. The drivers of both vehicles were pronounced dead at the scene, and there were no survivors.

Neither have been identified, but the wrong-way driver appears to have been a man in his 20s, and the other driver appears to have been in his 40s, according to NBC Los Angeles. There were no bottles or other obvious signs that the wrong-way driver had been drinking.

Support for LAist comes from

Five of six lanes were closed down while authorities investigated, but those lanes were opened up by 5:30 a.m.

UPDATE 11/14: The men killed in the crash have been identified. The man in the 2003 Acura TL who flipped a U and drove the wrong way on the freeway was Jesse Anthony De La Cruz Portillo, 22, of Los Angeles. The man he ran into who was driving a 1997 Ford Ranger pickup was Jose DeJesus Ruiz, 58, of Glendale.

Most Read