Wrong-way driver crashes into vehicle on 405, injuring three

Amina Khan

A motorist who pulled a U-turn on the 405 Freeway early Sunday morning and drove the wrong way into oncoming traffic during a high-speed chase crashed head-on into another vehicle, injuring a man, woman and baby, authorities said. 

The chase began around 2:15 a.m. when a California Highway Patrol officer saw the driver of a Toyota Sequoia SUV weaving across the eastbound 101 Freeway, traveling at speeds up to 100 miles per hour, said CHP Officer Tony Polizzi.  The driver then exited the freeway, entered the westbound 101 and then took the southbound 405 Freeway ramp, Polizzi said. 

The driver made a U-turn on the freeway and drove north in the southbound lanes into oncoming traffic, past the 101 Freeway, Polizzi said.  A short time later, a Los Angeles Police helicopter crew tracking the SUV informed the CHP that the vehicle had crashed into a Toyota SUV carrying a 30-year-old man, 28-year-old woman and a 2-month-old girl. 

The man suffered a right-hand fracture, the woman suffered a fractured femur and facial lacerations, and the baby suffered a hematoma to the head, Polizzi said. 

The suspect was trapped in his car and sustained a fractured leg, broken arm and missing teeth, Polizzi said.  He was freed by firefighters and taken to the UCLA Reagan Medical Center.  He was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and causing injury while evading officers.