ENCINITAS (CBS8/CNS) - Three people were killed when a 29-year-old Mercedes driver made a sudden U-turn on Interstate 5 at the Mexican border Sunday morning and sped nearly 40 miles the wrong way in the southbound freeway lanes before crashing head on into another vehicle in Encinitas.
The crash happened at 3:22 a.m., leaving southbound freeway lanes charred from the fiery crash between the speeding Mercedes and a Chrysler. Two people in the Chrysler were killed, along with the driver of the Mercedes.
The driver of the Mercedes was identified as 29-year-old David Michael Elmore of Encinitas.
Elmore and the man and woman in the Chrysler were killed on impact. The force of the collision set the Chrysler ablaze, charring the remains of the still-unidentified occupants, Bettencourt said.
The driver of a Mercedes was heading towards Tijuana suddenly made a U-turn and fled north in southbound lanes, said CHP spokesman Jim Bettencourt.
CHP officers spotted the wrong-way car speeding north at H Street in Chula Vista, with Border Patrol agents following behind on the northbound side of the freeway.
The car was estimated to be speeding above 100 miles per hour and was lost at E Street, but apparently sped north through National City and downtown San Diego, past Mission Bay, La Jolla and Del Mar.
The crash was reported at 3:22 a.m., just south of Manchester Avenue.
The southbound 5 Freeway was snarled until 10:05 a.m, as all traffic was taken off the freeway at Manchester. Traffic on the old Coast Highway was jammed for miles.