California Highway Patrol investigators have said a local woman was behind the wheel and led law enforcement on an erratic pursuit Tuesday, ending with her crashing into the back of a semi-truck.
The woman, whose name has not yet been released but was described as a 43-year-old Valencia resident, was taken to the hospital following the crash and, as of Friday, remained in “serious condition,” according to law enforcement personnel.
The crash stems from CHP officers receiving a report at approximately 5:41 p.m. of a possible DUI driver traveling along the southbound side of State Route 126 in Oxnard, according to the collision report.
“(CHP) units responded and initiated an enforcement stop as the vehicle increased its speed and a pursuit ensued,” read the CHP collision report. “The suspect vehicle, a 2021 GMC Denali pickup truck driven by a solo occupant, continued driving erratically while traversing various freeways.”
The 43-year-old woman, according to investigators, continued onto Interstate 5, through the Santa Clarita Valley and the Newhall Pass toward the city of Los Angeles.
“As the suspect vehicle continued along the southbound I-5 (Golden State Freeway) south of Broadway, for unknown reasons, veered from the No. 1 lane into the No. 3 lane, colliding into the rear of a semi-truck, causing the suspect vehicle to subsequently collide into the concrete center divider where it came to rest,” reads the report. “CHP officers attempted to make contact with the driver with no response and broke out the right front window of the suspect vehicle in order to gain access to the unresponsive driver.”
Officers on the scene then performed CPR on the woman while Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics responded to the scene. She was ultimately transported to the L.A. County University of Southern California Medical Center and the CHP listed her injury on the crash report as “blunt force trauma.”
The driver of the semi-truck, identified as a 36-year-old Rosemead man, did not sustain any injury in the crash, according to CHP officials.
The incident and sequence of events remain under investigation by the CHP Highway Patrol Major Crimes Unit.
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