One driver died and another was injured in a series of collisions in quick succession on Interstate 580 in Livermore early Thursday morning, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The deadly chain-reaction incident began unfolding at about 3:30 a.m. when a Ford Mustang and Ford F-350 pickup truck collided on eastbound I-580 just west of the First Street interchange, according to Officer Tyler Hahn of CHP-Dublin.
No injuries occurred in that first crash, but the Mustang was rendered inoperable, stuck in the No. 2 lane facing near perpendicular to traffic, according to Hahn. The driver of the F-350 moved the truck over to the right shoulder.
Soon after, a Chevy pickup was traveling eastbound in the No. 3 lane approaching the area at a speed exceeding 75 mph. The Chevy driver told officers they looked over their shoulder to change lanes into the No. 2 lane but didn't see the stalled-out Mustang, according to Hahn.
"The driver of the Chevy was unable to brake prior to impacting the right front passenger door of the Mustang," Hahn said. "The collision between the Chevy and the Mustang caused the Chevy to travel into the path of a passing Ford Expedition. The front of the Ford Expedition struck the right rear of the Chevy pickup."
The driver of the Mustang sustained fatal injuries in the second collision while the Chevy driver suffered a broken left knee and broken right ankle, according to Hahn. The other two drivers were uninjured. None of the names of any individual involved in the chain-reaction crash have been released yet.
The circumstances remain under investigation, according to Hahn.
Eastbound lanes of I-580 were closed for more than three hours into the early morning commute Thursday due to the investigation and cleanup at the scene.
