Two dead in I-5 chain-reaction collision

A man and a woman from Palmdale were killed early Thursday in a multiple-vehicle collision on Interstate 5 and Highway 46 near Buttonwillow, the California Highway Patrol reported.

The CHP said the crash took place about 3:55 a.m. after Angelica Yanez, 23, of Costa Mesa crashed a Toyota Yaris into a center divider, blocking the left lane. Angela Smith, 52, of Los Angeles stopped her Kia Soul in front of the Yaris to check on the driver, as did Emily Craig, 21, of Simi Valley who pulled her BMW 528 in front of the Kia.

Moments later, a 1990 Ford LTD driven by a 20-year-old Palmdale man with a 50-year-old female passenger drove into the crash scene, failed to stop in time and struck the back of the Yaris. A chain-reaction collision followed as the Yaris struck the Kia and the Kia slammed into the BMW. The Ford LTD careened out of control into the path of a Ford Excursion that was in the right lane. On impact, the Ford LTD erupted in flames, killing the driver and the passenger.

Michele Garcia, 48, of Maricopa, Arizona, the driver of the Ford Excursion, sustained moderate injuries, as did Yanez, the driver of the Yaris. The identities of the two in the Ford LTD were not immediately released.

This story was originally published November 27, 2015 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Two dead in I-5 chain-reaction collision."