ROAD RAGE MOTORIST FOUND.Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Daily News Staff Writer The driver of a green minivan involved in a Sylmar freeway dispute that led to the deaths of two women came forward Thursday but investigators declined to file charges against him after an interview, CHP CHP Chapter CHP Combined Heat and Power CHP California Highway Patrol CHP Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (Turkish: Republican People's Party) CHP Chemical Hygiene Plan (OSHA) CHP Community Health Plan officials said. Pierre Gaucher, 47, of Northridge denied to authorities Thursday that he participated in any road rage See Web rage. exchange, said California Highway Patrol highway patrol n. A state law enforcement organization whose police officers patrol the public highways. Officer Doug Sweeney. Gaucher said his van was bumped by a Mercury Cougar The Mercury Cougar was an automobile sold under the Mercury brand of the Ford Motor Company's Lincoln-Mercury Division. The name was first used in 1967 and was carried by a diverse series of cars over the next three decades. as he was exiting the freeway and pulled over to stop but that the other driver sped away and turned back onto the freeway. However, CHP investigators believe the road dispute on the Golden State Freeway The Golden State Freeway is a north-south freeway running through Kern County and Los Angeles County, California. Originally built as U.S. Highway 99, it was re-signed as Interstate 5 in 1964. began before the drivers reached the Roxford Street off-ramp. ``We know that there was some kind of confrontation before the off-ramp,'' Sweeney said. The red Cougar cougar: see puma. cougar or puma or mountain lion or panther Species (Puma concolor) of large, graceful cat that lives in a wide variety of habitats in the Americas, from southern Alaska to Patagonia. headed the wrong way back onto the freeway, where it was involved in a massive crash that killed the driver, Delfina Morales, 42, of San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. , and her 26-year-old daughter, Maria Gonzalez, of Pacoima. The accident occurred at 7:27 a.m. Wednesday on the northbound side of the Golden State Freeway at Roxford. On Thursday, the CHP spokesman repeated the story Gaucher told authorities: ``He feels her hit one time. He pulls over to the shoulder. She pulls beside him and accelerates and hits a big puddle and throws a bunch of dirt and mud onto his van.'' But witnesses told officers that Morales and Gaucher exchanged gestures, honked horns and flashed headlights before she followed Gaucher's Plymouth van down the off-ramp and bumped him a couple of times. She then turned and headed the wrong way back onto the freeway, sideswiped a Honda Accord The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. and slammed into a truck. ``Witnesses said she was determined. Her face looked like she was on a mission,'' Sweeney said. Morales' car then hit a truck, which overturned on a Camaro driven by Los Angeles Fire Department The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), also known as the Los Angeles City Fire Department to distinguish it from the Los Angeles County Fire Department. It is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the city of Los Angeles. Capt. George DeMott. Morales and Gonzalez were killed instantly while the truck driver, Victorino Perez, and DeMott suffered moderate injuries. Outside the mobile home of Delfina Morales on Thursday, red-eyed, somber friends and family gathered to mourn the loss of their loved ones loved ones npl → seres mpl queridos loved ones npl → proches mpl et amis chers loved ones love npl . Morales lived in a tiny, working-class mobile-home park located in an industrial section of San Fernando and Gonzalez lived in Pacoima. Family members declined to talk to reporters. Gaucher called CHP officials at 9 a.m. Thursday after seeing the incident on the 9 p.m. TV news Wednesday and talking it over with co-workers Thursday morning, Sweeney said. Gaucher told police he might be linked to the crash on the Golden State Freeway the day before that killed Morales and Gonzalez, Sweeney said. ``He contacted us after he saw the news (Wednesday) night and at the urging of his co-workers,'' Sweeney said. ``He is an involved party and right now that is all he is. We've seen his van and have talked to him at length.'' Sweeney said more freeway witnesses are needed to clarify what happened before the two parties reached the Roxford Street freeway off-ramp. Sweeney said Gaucher reported that after the Cougar drove away, he pulled into a neighboring Denny's restaurant parking lot to survey damage to his vehicle. Daily News Staff Writers Stacy Brown, Peter Hartlaub and Yvette Cabrera contributed to this report. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO (color) Maria Gonzalez, 26, was killed in a crash Wednesday along with her mother, Delfina Morales, 42. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion