A 33-year-old man was killed Monday afternoon when two work vehicles collided on the northbound Glendale Freeway, an impact violent enough to send one truck rolling over repeatedly before it came to rest. The man, identified as George Rangel Jr., was pronounced dead at the scene near Mountain Street, close to Glendale Community College.
The crash was reported to the California Highway Patrol at 3:30 p.m. Monday on the northbound Glendale (2) Freeway at Mountain Street, according to MyNewsLA.com. Authorities said the collision involved two work vehicles, and a witness told the CHP that a white truck “barrel rolled” following the impact, leaving its occupant trapped inside after it flipped over.
The white truck ultimately blocked freeway lanes after rolling to a stop on its tires, and a second work truck was also reported involved in the crash, though the outlet's report does not specify how the vehicles came into contact or who was driving each one. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's office said an autopsy was pending to determine Rangel's cause of death.
SigAlert Snarled Traffic For Hours
A SigAlert was issued at 3:49 p.m., shutting down lanes 2 through 5 as well as the Mountain Street on-ramp while crews worked the scene. The closure stretched for roughly seven hours before the lanes were reopened at about 10:45 p.m. Monday night, backing up commute traffic through the corridor near the community college.
No further details on the occupants of the work vehicles, the cause of the crash, or whether anyone else was hurt have been released as of the latest report.
Not the First Deadly Freeway Closure in Glendale
Glendale's freeways have seen fatal, lane-closing crashes before. In April 2024, a fatal semi-truck crash on the westbound 134 Freeway near Glendale Avenue similarly forced a lengthy closure, according to MyGlendale. That incident remains a separate case from Monday's crash on the 2 Freeway.
For now, the circumstances that led to Monday's collision, and what role each work vehicle played in it, remain unclear pending further information from investigators.
