California Highway Patrol detectives are piecing together a series of collisions on the 405 Freeway in Costa Mesa on Tuesday night that killed one motorist, wounded many others, and caused a six-hour shutdown of the whole highway.
According to CHP spokesman Sergio Rivera, officers were dispatched to the freeway’s southbound lanes, just south of Harbor Boulevard, shortly after 11:30 p.m., to investigate a two-vehicle incident. When they arrived, they saw that several vehicles were involved in what appeared to be a chain reaction of wrecks.
“There were multiple cars — it was more than just two,” Rivera recalled on Wednesday, estimating that the battle involved seven or eight drivers. “We are still studying the sequence of events. We anticipate there will be many, independent crashes.
One person, identified only as a guy in his 50s, was pronounced dead on the scene, while around nine others were injured. Five were sent to surrounding hospitals for treatment, Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue Battalion Chief Chris Coates reported on Wednesday.
“With a complex scene, where the accident spanned approximately one-quarter of a mile, CMFR, with assistance from the Fountain Valley Fire Department, triaged victims and requested an appropriate amount of resources,” Coates stated regarding the large-scale fatality.
Rivera said authorities ordered a complete closure of all lanes, which lasted until nearly 1 a.m., as investigators studied the area. Because it was not immediately clear which component of the incident caused the fatality, each vehicle and every part of the road had to be thoroughly documented.
Several witnesses reported seeing the incident unfold, but owing to the late hour, CHP investigators were still determining who saw what Wednesday morning.
“The hard part is getting a hold of witnesses and seeing what their statements are, then matching it with what we think occurred,” Rivera told CNN. “It’s just a big puzzle, and we’re trying to put it together.”
Reference: 1 killed, 5 hospitalized in chain reaction of crashes on 405 Freeway in Costa Mesa
