2 DIE IN ROAD RAGE CRASH; MOTHER, DAUGHTER KILLED, 2 HURT ON I-5.

Byline: Stacy Brown Daily News Staff Writer

A freeway battle in rush-hour traffic Wednesday left a mother and daughter dead in a wrong-way crash and thousands of commuters angered for hours as the wreckage was cleared.

It was 7:27 a.m. when this case of road rage ended on the northbound Golden State Freeway just south of the Roxford Street off-ramp.

Witnesses said the two women, driver Delfina Morales, 42, and her daughter, Maria Gonzalez, 26, of Pacoima were seen chasing a minivan down the ramp, gesturing, honking and flashing their high-beams, said Officer Doug Sweeney.

The two drivers exchanged heated words before Morales pulled a U-turn on the off-ramp and headed the wrong way into traffic, sideswiping a car and slamming into a truck, Sweeney said.

``Look at this tragic situation because of a freeway altercation - maybe one car cut another car off,'' Sweeney said. ``Is it worth it to die like this?''

The crash closed the busy freeway for nearly five hours as investigators searched for clues.

The mother and daughter were killed instantly when their Mercury Cougar, traveling about 45 mph, collided head-on with a truck heading north at full speed, said Officer Robert Rockafellow. The women had just dropped off Gonzalez's 9-year-old son at school, Sweeney said, adding that he did not know where the pair were headed.

Witnesses said hand gestures were exchanged between the two drivers, with Morales flashing her lights and honking at the minivan as the two vehicles exited the freeway at Roxford.

When Morales headed back onto the freeway, her car sideswiped a blue Honda Accord then hit the truck head-on, Sweeney said. The minivan also headed back up the ramp, but turned again and fled, he said.

``The truck split the vehicle in half and one of the women was ejected from the car,'' Sweeney said.

The front of the women's car was demolished. Only the back section of the vehicle, including the back seat and trunk, remained intact on the highway.

The crash also resulted in the injuries of two other motorists, including off-duty Los Angeles fire Capt. George DeMott. The impact of the initial collision caused the truck to overturn on DeMott's red Camaro.

DeMott and the driver of the truck, Victorino Raul Martin Perez, 26, were taken to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center with various injuries, none considered life threatening, Rockafellow said.

DeMott, 58, was heading home from a 24-hour shift at nearby Fire Station 75 when the truck fell onto his Camaro. DeMott's vehicle, which skidded along the freeway's center divider and rolled to a stop, was totaled.

DeMott said he never saw the wrong-way driver's car, but knew there was an crash the moment her vehicle hit the truck.

``A whole lot of metal debris was hitting my car, coming from the impact of the two vehicles,'' DeMott said. ``At the same time the truck was tipping.''

After his car settled to a stop, DeMott said, he got out and asked if the truck driver was all right, but didn't check either of the women's vital signs.

``They obviously were dead,'' he said.

Other than ``aches and bumps and bruises and a little glass in my scalp,'' DeMott said he was uninjured, and happy to reach his anniversary with the department.

``Thirty-three years (today),'' he said. ``I'm glad I made it.''

Perez, driving a 15-foot cargo van owned by Exec-U-Mail mailing company of Marina del Rey, was on his way to a Sylmar print shop to pick up copies of the Malibu Times newspaper, said Mike Franz, Perez's boss.

The wrong-way driver ``was totally unexpected,'' Franz said.

``It's not the kind of thing where somebody makes a lane change in front of you. Any truck driver gets that and they know how to handle it. But this is going to be a complete surprise.''

Finz described Perez as a capable and trustworthy employee,T who started in the mail room about two years ago and was promoted to driver a year ago.

He's on paid leave until at least next week, Finz said.

The impact tore off the truck's front axle, and sheered the passenger side of the truck, Finz said.

Northridge resident Rosemary DiGicomo, the driver of the Honda that was sideswiped, also escaped serious injury, authorities said.

Witnesses called the collision one of the worst they had seen on Southland freeways.

``You couldn't identify the car, it was so bad,'' said Mike Ramiro of DML Shipping and Receiving, a company near the Roxford off-ramp.

Ramiro said he has seen dozens of crashes, some fatal, while traveling to work in the short time he's worked for DML.

``This is a major truck exit and you get a lot of activity. It's scary. A couple of weeks ago I saw a truck barrel off the freeway and down into a gate that separates us from the freeway,'' Ramiro said.

The collision caused major congestion on four area freeways. Authorities said northbound traffic on the Golden State Freeway was ground to a halt for more than 10 miles because of rubbernecking.

The northbound side of the same freeway was shut down for about two hours while investigators carefully examined the scene.

Traffic on the Antelope Valley and Ronald Reagan freeways also was delayed as CHP and Caltrans workers rerouted vehicles stopped on the Golden State.

Ken Armstrong, a Caltrans supervisor, said crashes like Wednesday's are always hard to swallow.

``I've seen a lot of accidents in my 22 years on this job. You never get used to these; you cope with them, but you don't get used to them,'' Armstrong said.

Daily News Staff Writers Peter Hartlaub and Anne Burke contributed to this story.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

PHOTO (1--Color) (Color in SAC Edition only) Investigators work at the scene of Wednesday's fatal wrong-way crash near the Roxford Street off-ramp on the Golden State Freeway.

(2--Color) (Color in SAC Edition only) Traffic is backed up for mileTs on the northbound lanes of the Golden State and San Diego freeways.

David R. Crane/Daily News

(3) (Ran in SAC Edition only) A truck that was hit by a wrong-way driver rests on its side Wednesday on the Golden State Freeway. The truck driver was injured.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News