Rainstorm Brings Flurry of Accidents on Freeways

A powerful storm that brought the first significant rainfall of the season also contributed to a flurry of accidents on freeways in northern Los Angeles County, the California Highway Patrol reported.

There were no reports of fatalities in any of the incidents, but foul weather and speeding drivers kept officers busy late Monday and early Tuesday. “We had 12 to 15 fender-benders and about a dozen people” were taken to hospitals, said Sgt. Robert Callahan of the CHP’s Newhall office.

At least four major accidents occurred on the southbound Golden State Freeway.

About 1 a.m. Tuesday, a trailer came loose from a semitrailer truck north of the Foothill Freeway and an auto slid beneath the trailer, seriously injuring the car’s driver, Uehara Minoru, 46, of Los Angeles. He was taken to Holy Cross Medical Center, where he was in serious condition, hospital spokeswoman Reenie Collins said.

About 11 p.m. Monday, a motorist speeding south on the Golden State Freeway near McBean Parkway lost control and struck the center divider and a second vehicle, the CHP said, blocking two southbound lanes of the freeway for two hours.

The driver of the first car was identified as Tristan Emil Gunnett, 20, of Redwood City. The driver of the second car was identified as Anh Quang Hoang, 43, of San Francisco. Gunnett, Hoang and Hoang’s passenger were treated and released from Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital.

Shortly after 1 a.m. Tuesday, a small speeding car “spun out of control and hit a dual-wheel pickup truck carrying persimmons,” spilling the fruit onto the highway south of Calgrove Boulevard, Callahan said. There were no injuries.

Shortly before 10 p.m. Monday, four semitrailer trucks were involved in two accidents in the truck lanes of the Golden State Freeway near the Antelope Valley Freeway, closing the lanes for more than two hours.

Two trucks collided and when a third stopped to avoid the wreckage, it was hit by a fourth truck. There were no serious injuries, the CHP said.