1 Killed, 3 Hurt as Truck Crushes Car on Freeway

A car-carrier jackknifed on the Golden State Freeway in Sun Valley on Wednesday, killing a man and injuring three other people whose car was crushed beneath the truck, the California Highway Patrol said.

The rig, carrying at least six cars, overturned on a car with four passengers near the Branford Street off-ramp on the northbound side of the freeway shortly before 7 p.m., CHP Officer Enrique Acosta said.

“According to an entry from a CHP dispatch report, the accident could possibly have been a staged collision,” Acosta said. “Staged collisions are usually planned to collect insurance money.”

He said it was not clear what evidence gave rise to the CHP’s suspicion that the accident was staged.

It took city firefighters 1 1/2 hours, using power tools and a heavy wrecker, to remove the victims from the car, Los Angeles City Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells said. A man whose identity was not available was pronounced dead at the scene, he said.

Isaias Aguilar, 24, and Jorge Sanchez, 29, were taken by ambulance to Holy Cross Hospital. Aguilar was treated and released, and Sanchez was listed in fair condition, said nursing supervisor Gari Reed. A 27-year-old Los Angeles woman was taken by helicopter to Northridge Hospital where she was listed in good condition, said Anne Lipman, a nursing supervisor.

The driver of the truck was uninjured, Wells said. Investigators had not determined why the truck overturned, he said.

The accident caused a massive traffic jam. It forced the closure of the northbound lanes of the Golden State Freeway and northbound lanes of the northern extension of the Hollywood Freeway approaching the Branford off-ramp of the Golden State Freeway, Acosta said. The southbound lanes of the Golden State near the accident also were closed to accommodate air ambulance landings.