HESPERIA, Calif. (AP) — A dump truck careened off a freeway off ramp and collided with a car, killing two young people and seriously injuring three others in the high desert of San Bernardino County, the California Highway Patrol said Wednesday.
It took firefighters several hours to extricate the victims after the violent crash late Tuesday at Interstate 15 just off the Highway 138 exit in the Cajon Pass, CHP Officer Ryan Dallin said.
The truck, operated by an independent contractor, was leaving a construction site when it lost control for an unknown reason and failed to stop at an intersection, Dallin said.
The truck barreled into a PT Cruiser traveling westbound on Highway 138. The car was pushed into a drainage ditch and smashed into barriers outside a gas station, ending up underneath the truck.
Crews used two heavy-lift tow vehicles to stabilize and lift the dump truck off the car before using the jaws of life to extract the victims.
Two people were pronounced dead at the scene, including the car’s driver, 19-year-old Nicole Lyle, Dallin said. The name of the other person killed was withheld because he was a minor, he said.
Three passengers in the PT Cruiser were rushed to hospitals with major injuries: Michael Baker, 20; Shane Gretzner, 19; and David Castaneda, whose age was unknown.
The occupants of the car were all from the Phelan and Pinon Hills areas, about 15 miles from the crash site.
The driver of the dump truck, Sonja Aida, 54, suffered minor injuries.
