Unbelted passenger dies in Antelope Acres crash

ANTELOPE ACRES — A 56-year-old man was killed and two people injured Thursday night in a head-on collision between a vehicle and a big rig.

The crash occurred at 4:30 p.m. at 90th Street West and State Route 138.

The victim was a passenger in a 2006 Hyundai Santa Fe driven by Leslie Billings, 40, of Rifle, Colorado.

Billings was westbound on State Route 138 West of 90th Street West at a speed greater than what was prudent for the wet, snowy traffic conditions, according to a report by California Highway Patrol Officer Sanders.

Due to the unsafe speed, Billings lost control of his Hyundai, which caused it to veer into the eastbound lane of State Route 138 and collide head-on with a 2007 Freightliner truck and tractor, driven by Carlos Hurtado, 49, of Los Angeles, Sanders wrote.

The victim, whose identity was being withheld pending notification of next-of-kin, suffered fatal injuries. He was seated in the right rear passenger area and was not wearing a seat belt, according to the report.

Billings and a second passenger, Jonni Wallace, 41, of Glenwood Springs, were transported to Antelope Valley Hospital with injuries. Billings and Wallace were wearing their seat belts. Billings reported chest, arm and leg pain. Wallace

fractured her left leg.

The snow and ice caused at least one other fatality early Friday morning when an 38-year-old Palmdale woman died after her Kia Sportage struck the rear of a big rig on the Antelope Valley Freeway.

The icy road conditions led to multiple incidents, not including the big rig that went down the right shoulder of the Antelope Valley Freeway near the Pearblossom Highway exit, that kept California Highway Patrol officers busy Friday.

A solo vehicle traffic collision with unknown injuries involving a blue minivan into the side of the mountain occurred at 2:10 p.m. along Bouquet Canyon Road at mile marker 11, according to the CHP Traffic Incident Information Page.

Less than an hour later, there was a solo traffic incident involving a white minivan vs. unknown debris at Bouquet Canyon and Spunky Canyon roads.

A red pickup truck ended up on its side Friday morning near the center divider on the northbound Antelope Valley Freeway between the avenues H and I exits. Another truck, this one a black truck, apparently spun out and ended up facing the wrong way near the center divider on the northbound freeway near the Antelope Valley Mall.

Included among the numbers car crashes was a report about 2:05 p.m. regarding a live or dead animal on the right shoulder of southbound Antelope Valley Freeway near Soledad Canyon Road near Acton.

The animal was a dog with a chain around it the reporting party thought might still be alive. An update about 30 minutes later estimated the black dog weighed about 80 pounds and was lying down as if it were asleep.

Another update, posted at 4:12 p.m. said the dog was alive and laying on the right shoulder on a leash.

A separate “animal hazard” incident, posted at 4:47 p.m., listed a large black dog with a chain around its neck that possibly fell off a truck was now in the middle lanes.

“UNK If 1144. NFD,” the log said, meaning it was not known if the dog was dead because there were no further details.

That incident dropped off the CHP page, and the original post remained until it too dropped off.

‘We didn’t find it,” an officer with the CHP’s Los Angeles Communications Center said.

The officer said they also could not find the other dog.