A 20-year-old woman was arrested in connection with a four-vehicle crash early Saturday morning in Sherman Oaks on the eastbound 101 Freeway that killed two people — including a 15-year-old boy.
The woman, identified as Bianca Lopez, 20, of Los Angeles, was hospitalized after the crash with moderate injuries and then taken into custody, the California Highway Patrol said in a report. While alcohol was a factor in the crash, the report did not state what specific charges she was held on.
The woman was driving a 2008 Honda east of Van Nuys Boulevard when she rear-ended a 2019 Isuzu box truck at about 12:10 a.m., the CHP said. The impact caused both vehicles to careen toward the center divider wall and into the westbound lanes.
While in the westbound lanes, the Isuzu was struck by an oncoming 2017 Honda.
“The collision with the center divider wall, and subsequent collision from the 2017 Honda, caused significant intrusion to the passenger compartment of the Isuzu,” CHP said in the report. “Two passengers from the Isuzu suffered fatal injuries as a result of the these collisions.”
One of the passengers of the Isuzu, a 40-year-old man from Santa Maria, was pronounced dead at the scene. Paramedics rushed the other passenger, a 15-year-old boy, also from Santa Maria, to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where he later died from his injuries, the CHP said.
The driver of the Isuzu, a 53-year-old man from Santa Maria was hospitalized with moderate injuries.
The driver of the 2017 Honda, a 49-year-old woman from Reseda, was rushed to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center with major injuries.
A 2016 Dodge, also in the westbound lanes, was struck by concrete debris caused by the destruction of the center divider wall, the CHP said. But the driver, a 37-year-old woman, escaped without injury.
The CHP’s West Valley office urged anyone with information regarding the crash to call it at 818-888-0980.