Wrong-Way Crash Kills 3 Fleeing Police on Freeway

Three men trying to escape Burbank police were killed today when their car going the wrong way on the Golden State Freeway slammed head-on into a tractor-trailer, police said.

The collision at 3:25 a.m. closed the freeway’s northbound lanes at Olive Street for nearly 6 1/2 hours, backing up traffic for miles, the California Highway Patrol said. Southbound traffic also was snarled as motorists slowed to look at the wreckage.

The names of the dead were not immediately released, pending notification of next of kin, CHP officer Mike Maas said. He said the men in the car were in their early 20s.

Burbank Police Lt. Don Brown said officers had tried to stop a late-model Chevrolet Malibu at Victory Boulevard and Clybourn Avenue after it rounded a corner “nearly on two wheels.” Police chased the Malibu five miles before it turned onto an off-ramp and entered the freeway at Burbank Boulevard.

Investigators said the Malibu traveled less than a quarter of a mile before it smashed into a truck carrying sand.

“Our officers went up onto the shoulder,” Brown said. “They heard a loud crash and saw a semi-truck skidding along the freeway with its front wheels gone. They hit it head-on. The three occupants were killed instantly.”

The truck driver, whose identity also was withheld, was uninjured.

Brown said a check of police computer files showed that the driver of the car was wanted on several misdemeanor traffic warrants.