Deadly Crash Ends High-Speed Chase on 210 Freeway

LOS ANGELES, CA — A high-speed pursuit of a grand theft suspect ended in tragedy Friday morning on the 210 Freeway in La Crescenta when the driver collided with a dump truck.

The chase began around 11 a.m. after Ventura County Sheriff’s deputies responded to reports of a theft in progress at a Target store in Camarillo. The suspect, driving a black hatchback, led officers on a dangerous chase through the San Fernando Valley and into Los Angeles, reaching speeds over 100 mph.

According to witnesses, the suspect was recklessly driving on the shoulder, overtaking other vehicles. “He was driving on the shoulder extremely erratically, passing traffic, passing vehicles,” one witness said. They also expressed that they feared a serious outcome if the suspect did not slow down.

The pursuit continued until the suspect crashed into the back of a dump truck near the Ocean View onramp in Montrose. Sgt. Dan Keene of the California Highway Patrol confirmed that the vehicle lost control after the impact and came to rest in the middle of the lanes.

Witnesses described the sound of the crash as loud and shocking. “It sounded like a sonic boom or something. It was very loud… you knew it was going to be bad just by the way it sounded,” a witness recounted, detailing how they saw the aftermath where officers performed CPR on the driver.

Authorities responded to the scene where significant injuries were apparent. The unidentified driver was pronounced dead at the scene, while the dump truck driver was unharmed but shaken by the incident. Investigators indicated that, given the high speeds involved, the situation could have resulted in even greater tragedy.

This was only a two-vehicle crash at this point,” Keene said. “The driver of the dump truck was uninjured.” All eastbound lanes of the freeway remained closed for several hours before reopening around 7:30 p.m.