Horrific wrong-way crash in California kills one and leaves car a mangled wreck on 405 Freeway

A horrifying wrong-way crash in California early Tuesday morning killed a person and left a vehicle shredded on the 405 Freeway.

The crash involved two other vehicles and shut down the major freeway for about four hours near Hawthorne.

911 callers reported a black sedan driving southbound in the northbound HOV lane just before 1 a.m. Initial reports spoke of a crash involving five vehicles, which was later changed to three, according to the California Highway Police Incident Log.

One of the vehicles was on fire, and two others looked to have suffered some damage. A SigAlert around 1:03 a.m. shut down the freeway and diverted traffic onto Inglewood Avenue. It wasn’t called off until 5:12 a.m.

Firefighters were seen sifting through the wrecked vehicle, and a coroner was on scene to assess the fatality.

A good samaritan named Jose recalled that there were two passengers in the wrecked vehicle, a female and a male, he told Fox 11. He said the female died on impact, but the male was hospitalized.

“I pulled over, I seen the car on fire and I put it out. Then I seen a person in there, we checked their pulse, and dead on impact,” he said. “Then we seen another guy in there, which is I believe her brother, and he got out.”

It’s unclear who the deceased is. One other person was taken to the hospital in unknown condition, according to ABC 7.

It’s also unclear why the wrecked black sedan was traveling the wrong way on the freeway.

Caltrans and the Los Angeles Police Department were also called to the incident by CHP for assistance.

The investigation into the crash is still ongoing. It appeared to minimally impact commuters’ morning drive.

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