Semi-Truck Jackknifes Through 210 Freeway Divider in Irwindale, Killing 1 and Injuring 32

A jackknifed semi-truck turns a Saturday commute deadly

A semi-truck lost control on the eastbound 210 Freeway in Irwindale, California, shortly before 9 a.m. on Saturday June 21, crashing through the concrete center divider and slamming into westbound traffic.abc7 +1 One woman was pronounced dead at the scene, two people were left in critical condition, and 32 were injured in total — six of them juveniles.abc7 +1 Los Angeles County Fire Department officials declared the incident a mass-casualty traffic collision and dispatched multiple units to the site just west of Irwindale Avenue.cbsnews +1

Chain-reaction pileup shuts the freeway for hours

The big rig jackknifed after breaching the median barrier and struck at least two vehicles traveling in the opposite direction, triggering a chain-reaction pileup that blocked all westbound lanes and three eastbound lanes.abc7 +1 Emergency crews transported ten people to nearby hospitals, while twenty-two others who sustained minor injuries declined transport at the scene.nypost +1 A SigAlert was issued at 9:14 a.m., closing the westbound 210 between Irwindale Avenue and the 605 Freeway; all lanes were finally reopened at around 3:40 p.m. after a more-than-six-hour closure.cbsnews Video footage from the scene showed the big rig bearing Target branding, though Target said in a statement that the truck was operated by a third-party carrier and the driver was not a Target employee.cbsnews

Cause under investigation

The California Highway Patrol said in a social media post that lanes would remain closed "for an unknown duration" as investigators worked the scene, and the cause of the crash remained under investigation as of Saturday evening.abc7 +1 No details about the driver's identity or potential mechanical failure had been released by authorities at the time of publication. The crash comes amid mounting scrutiny of commercial truck safety on Southern California's densely traveled freeways, where multi-vehicle incidents involving large rigs have repeatedly resulted in fatalities in recent years.nypost