High speed crash kills 15-year-old on I-5
Jun 8, 2016 2:38 AM by Darren Leeds
A 17-year old is dead after a collision with a CHP officer on I-5 Tuesday afternoon.
Officers with CHP said that the crash happened around 3:30pm Tuesday. It happened on I-5 just south of HWY 32.
Officers said that traffic was slowing down on northbound I-5 for a construction zone. THE CHP officer driving the mobile road enforcement truck was approaching the stopped traffic when he became distracted and crashed into the back of a Hyundai Elantra. The 17-year old was sitting in the backseat of the Hyundai that was struck.
Odell says, "His attention was diverted away from the road, looking down at I believe his computer. When he looked up traffic was slowing and coming to a stop, applied his brakes and rear-ended the vehicle that was in front of him which subsequently got pushed into 2 other vehicles that were stopped."
CHP officers said a separate accident investigation team will be handling the collision investigation.
As of around 10:30pm Tuesday, CHP reported that northbound lanes of I-5 had been reopened and was no longer being diverted.