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An Arizona man burned to death and his companion was seriously injured Tuesday night when the car they were in plowed into the back of a tractor-trailer truck and burst into flames on Interstate 8 near Sunrise Highway, the California Highway Patrol said.
David C. Robins, 21, was a passenger in a car driven by David L. Bales, 22, also of Arizona, traveling westbound in the outside lane when the car slammed into the truck about 9:30 p.m., CHP spokeswoman Liz Hill said. Robins was dead at the scene, Hill said.
Bales, who was charged with felony drunk driving and manslaughter, was taken to UC San Diego Medical Center, where he was placed in the intensive care unit with broken ribs, a broken leg, a broken knee, and burns over 10% of his body, hospital spokeswoman Eileen Callahan said.
Hill said the truck driver, Ronald Ramos, 42, of Imperial Beach, was unhurt.
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