A high-speed pursuit Wednesday afternoon that apparently originated in the San Fernando Valley before making its way up Interstate 5 through the Santa Clarita Valley ended with a fatal solo collision north of the SCV, according to officials and televised video.
The vehicle was going in excess of 100 mph just after 3 p.m. on Wednesday on the southbound I-5 when the driver, apparently a female based on televised footage, lost control while attempting to transition to Highway 138 and collided with the Quail Lake Road overpass just south of Gorman.
The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, according to emergency radio dispatch traffic. Officials with the L.A. County Medical Examiner’s Office had yet to identify the body as of this story’s publication.
According to SCV Sheriff’s Station officials, the driver was being pursued by Los Angeles Police Department personnel before she made her way north.
Once the driver entered the SCV area, California Highway Patrol officers began pursuing the vehicle, which traveled on local surface streets in the SCV and made its way to Highway 126 before getting back on the northbound I-5 toward Gorman around 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday.Â
Televised footage indicated that the driver was moving at speeds in excess of 100 mph, and even reached 120 mph at points, with her hands sometimes being removed from the steering wheel to reach into a bag on her lap. The original report that initiated the pursuit was a stolen vehicle, according to emergency radio dispatch traffic.
CHP officers could be seen in the footage driving both behind the vehicle and in front of the vehicle for containment, but no spike strip could be deployed to stop the vehicle as of the publication of this story.
The driver eventually exited I-5 near Grapevine just before 3 p.m. before getting back on the southbound side of the freeway and heading back toward the SCV.