A motorist who was trapped inside his van following a traffic collision in Saugus late Friday afternoon has died, according to officials with the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office.
“The driver on the road died,” early Saturday morning, Lt. David Smith of the Coroner’s Office said.
The identification of the driver was not immediately available as officials were still waiting to notify next of kin, Smith said.
At about 4:40 p.m. Friday, first responders were dispatched to reports of a traffic collision on Bouquet Canyon Road at Wellston Road, just south of Plum Canyon Road.
The call came in initially as a van that had struck a light pole with one person being trapped as a result, according to Michael Pittman, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department said yesterday.
Paramedics dispatched to the worked for 30 minutes to free the driver pinned inside his vehicle — a black business van with the words “True 3D Sound” printed on its side, according to witnesses on the scene.
“The driver was reported to be out of the vehicle at 5:10 p.m.,” Pittman said.
The driver was taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital where he died early the next morning.
Firefighters were called back to the scene of the crash at 8:26 p.m. in order to handle a fuel spill, and began mopping up the fuel with a white powder at the base of the light pole the driver had hit.
“When they pulled the van away, gas started pouring out,” said one deputy at the scene, referring to the tow truck that loaded the van onto a flatbed.
The cleanup lasted until 9 p.m.
