LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A man and woman were killed this morning and two others were injured when a pickup truck rear-ended a stalled car on the westbound Santa Monica (10) Freeway just east of the Washington Boulevard exit in the Mid-City area of Los Angeles.
Paramedics responded about 4:20 a.m. and located four patients, two of whom were pronounced dead at the scene, according to Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
The fatally injured victims -- 55-year-old Modesta Guadelupe Tecuapacho of Los Angeles and a man in his 30s whose name was withheld pending notification of his next of kin -- were passengers in the disabled Nissan Altima, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Roberto Gomez.
The driver of the Altima, a man in his 40s, suffered major injuries and was taken to Cedars Sinai Medical Center. The man who was driving the Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck suffered a minor injury and declined to be taken to a hospital, authorities said.
The Nissan was stalled in the No. 3 lane when it was rear-ended, Gomez said.
The Nos. 2, 3 & 4 lanes of the westbound 10, just east of Hauser Boulevard, and the Washington Boulevard exit were closed for nearly four hours, triggering a SigAlert, according to the CHP.