Crime & Safety

Updated: Fiery Freeway Exit Crash Kills One in Long Beach

A man's car plunged off the Cherry Avenue off-ramp from the 91 freeway and struck barriers to propane tanks at a Target store, bursting into flames.

Updated 8:50 p.m. with car details and CHP quote.

A driver died Monday after a car rolled off the Cherry Avenue off-ramp from the Gardena (91) Freeway in Long Beach this afternoon and slammed into concrete barriers around propane tanks at a Target store. The car burst into flames.

The collision occurred at 2:27 p.m., said California Highway Patrol Officer Christian Cracraft. The car rolled off the right side of the freeway exit and the male inside was trapped and burned in the fiery crash, Cracraft said.

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It was not immediately clear what caused the car to burst into flames. The concrete barriers around the propane are designed to protect from such occurrences. It was not clear whether the barriers had been breached.

The car, a 2002 Mitsubishi, rolled off the right side of the off ramp and the male inside was trapped and burned in the fiery crash, Cracraft said. The driver, identified only as a John Doe, was going as much as 80 mph when for an unknown reason, he steered the car to the right and lost control.

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``The Mitsubishi continued in a northwesterly direction until the Mitsubishi left the roadway, down a dirt/shrub embankment, struck a tree, overturned, full engulfed, and came to rest on its right side,'' Cracraft said.

--With City News Service reporting


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