OCEANSIDE, Calif. -- The high-speed crash of an 83-year-old wrong-way driver which caused a four-vehicle freeway pileup was recorded by another driver on his cell phone.
The chain reaction accident t closed northbound lanes of Interstate 5 for about two hours Friday morning. It happened at about 9:45 a.m. near Las Pulgas Road.
A cell phone video sent to Fox 5 San Diego shows Clarence Kinney driving a white 2007 Ford F-150 driving southbound in the center divide on the northbound side of the freeway at freeway speed. After several seconds, the pickup smashes into when he hit the concrete abutment of the overpass at Las Pulgas Road.
The video ends there as the driver passes the accident scene. Investigators pieced together what happened next by speaking with witnesses and drivers involved in the accident. Kinney's pickup spun into traffic lanes where it was t-boned by a Land Rover and split in half. The cab portion of the pickup was hit by a Peterbilt tanker truck, which lost control and crashed into the center divide. The disabled Land Rover was then hit by a Toyota Sienna.
Kinney, the driver of the Ford pickup sustained only minor injuries. A passenger in the Land Rover was transported by ambulance to a hospital with minor injuries. Everyone else involved was treated at the scene.
All northbound lanes of the freeway were blocked for a short time, but crews quickly reopened two lanes. The other two lanes were cleared at about 11:45 a.m., the CHP said. By then, traffic had backed up for miles all the way into Oceanside.
Kinney was cited for driving the wrong way and driving with a suspended license. Investigators said he appeared to have been confused and couldn't explain how he ended up driving against traffic.
