AT LEAST 2 KILLED IN WEEKEND FREEWAY CRASHES.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

SHERMAN OAKS - At least two people were killed Sunday in early morning freeway crashes, the California Highway Patrol reported.

Two cars being driven at high rates of speed crashed in different sections of the westbound Ventura Freeway near Sherman Oaks on Sunday, killing one of the drivers, officials said.

Another man died in West Los Angeles on the Santa Monica Freeway near the San Diego Freeway.

Witnesses said the vehicles in Sherman Oaks were going at least 100 mph just prior to the crashes, which were reported shortly before 6 a.m., according to a CHP statement.

A white 2001 Honda Accord veered off the Ventura Freeway near Hazeltine Avenue and struck a tree. The force of the impact cut the vehicle in half, according to the Highway Patrol statement.

The Honda driver, a Los Angeles man who would have turned 25 on Christmas Day, was fatally injured, the CHP reported.

The other vehicle, described as a dark-colored sports car, hit the center divider wall just east of the Van Nuys Boulevard off-ramp. That driver stopped on the off-ramp shoulder for a time, then sped away.

It's unclear if the vehicles collided with each other before crashing on different sections of the freeway.

In another crash earlier in the morning in West Los Angeles one man died and four people were trapped in a car after it jumped off the eastbound Santa Monica Freeway near the San Diego Freeway, officials said.

The man, 19, died in the crash, which occurred about 1:18 a.m., CHP Officer Alex Gonzalez said.

The five people were inside a blue compact, Gonzalez said.

Paramedics transported at least one person to UCLA Medical Center, he said.

Officials did not know if any other people were hurt in the crash or what caused the car to go over the embankment, Gonzalez said.