CRASH ON 14 FREEWAY INJURES 3.

Byline: Orith Goldberg Staff Writer

Three people were injured Monday after a car whose driver might have been asleep crashed into the center divider of the Antelope Valley Freeway.

Three males, one critically injured, were taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, officials said.

Emergency medical personnel and California Highway Patrol officers responded to the collision on the southbound freeway at Puritan Mine Road, after a silver, four-door sedan hit the center divider and bounced onto the shoulder of the road about 11:05 a.m. Monday, officials said.

One of the two passengers suffered critical head and neck injuries, and was taken to Newhall Memorial by helicopter, said Los Angles fire Capt. Frank McCarthy.

A portion of the freeway was closed off for about 10 minutes so a helicopter could land to retrieve the critically injured man, officials said.

The driver and the other passenger were taken to the hospital by ambulance.

One of the men transported by ambulance suffered a fractured jaw. The other occupant suffered facial injuries, officials said.

The names of the occupants in the car were not available Monday afternoon.

Officers said the cause of the collision was still under investigation.