LOS ANGELES, CALIF., The Los Angeles county coroner today released the name of a motorist who burned to death after a sport utility vehicle slammed into his stalled Toyota Corolla on the southbound Golden State (5) Freeway in Boyle Heights.
Leonel Antonio Escobar, Jr., 30, resided in Norwalk, coroner’s Lt. Joe Bale said. The crash on the southbound freeway approaching Mission Road was reported to the CHP at 3:29 a.m. Sunday, according to a department statement. Escobar appeared to have stalled out in the No. 3 lane when he was struck by a 2002 Toyota Sequoia driven by a 37-year-old Corona man, according to the CHP statement. Fire engulfed the Corolla as both vehicles came to a rest in the No. 1 and 2 lanes of the freeway.
Another motorist helped the driver of the Sequoia get out of his car, but the Corolla driver was unable to get out of his. The 37-year-old man in the Sequoia suffered only minor injuries, CHP
officers said. Alcohol or drugs did not appear to have been factors in the crash.
