3 people killed in overnight crashes in East County, North County

Three people died early Sunday morning, Oct. 27, in a pair of crashes on San Diego County roadways, including two people in a car that burst into flames after stalling and being struck on Interstate 5 in Encinitas, authorities said.

The first fatal collision happened around 12:40 a.m. in Spring Valley when a pedestrian was struck on westbound state Route 94 between Bancroft Drive and state Route 125, authorities said.

According to a California Highway Patrol incident log, the victim’s friend called 911 from the Arco gas station at Campo Road and Bancroft Drive to report his “drunk friend” got out of the vehicle and was trying to walk across the freeway.

San Diego Sheriff’s Lt. Dustin Lopez said the victim was a 20-year-old man who was hit after running into traffic.

He died at the scene, according to the CHP. The crash shut down all westbound lanes of SR-94 for more than 30 minutes.

The second fatal crash was first reported around 1:45 a.m. on northbound I-5 south of Leucadia Boulevard in the Encinitas area, according to the CHP.

Exactly what led up to the victims’ vehicle stopping in the fast lane was unclear, but it was struck from behind by another northbound vehicle, according to the CHP and Lopez.

The vehicle that had been stopped burst into flames, killing both of its occupants, Lopez said.

Emergency crews shut down all northbound I-5 lanes near the crash site for more than 90 minutes, according to a pair of tweets from Caltrans San Diego.

Highway Patrol investigators are probing both incidents, and no other information was available Sunday afternoon.

— Alex Riggins is a reporter for The San Diego Union-Tribune