2 CHP officers expected to survive after Interstate 5 crash that killed 3 in SUV
Three people were killed and a pair of California Highway Patrol officers were hospitalized with major injuries early Tuesday morning after an SUV crashed into a stopped CHP patrol vehicle on Interstate 5 near Lodi, authorities said.
The two officers inside the patrol vehicle were assisting a disabled tractor trailer on southbound I-5 near Walnut Grove Road around 2:30 a.m. when a Subaru veered off the roadway and struck the rear of the CHP vehicle, the CHP Stockton office said in a Facebook post.
The crash launched the CHP cruiser into a dirt embankment, while the Subaru “collided with a tree and became fully engulfed in flames.”
All three occupants in the SUV were pronounced dead at the scene, according to the CHP social media post.
The two CHP officers suffered major injuries and were transported to a nearby hospital. The CHP in a Tuesday evening update said both are doing well and are expected to survive but “will have a long road to recovery.”
The CHP said it is unknown whether drugs or alcohol played a factor in the collision.
This story was originally published March 23, 2021 at 7:24 AM.
