Deadly crash takes two

A car carrier heading southbound on Angeles Crest Highway after 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday may have lost its brakes, causing a multiple vehicle accident that resulted in two fatalities and several injuries including those to a La Crescenta woman.

Marcos Costa, 43, from Massachusetts is being held at Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station on $200,000 bail for vehicle manslaughter with gross negligence after his semi-truck car carrier crashed into several vehicles, running over a red sedan and killing its two occupants before ending up in the Flintridge Bookstore and Coffeehouse at the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and Angeles Crest Highway.

The accident, a second in six months that saw an out-of-control truck traveling down the ’Crest, has become a hotter topic with government and Caltrans officials. In a press conference held Thursday at the city of La Cañada City Hall, Assembly Member Anthony Portantino said that both he and State Senator Carol Lui, both residents of La Cañada, have introduced legislature to ban commercial trucks on the route.

He said that both he and Lui will put the legislation on the fast track and “force Caltrans to ban trucks from Angeles Crest Highway.”

At that same press conference, Mayor Laura Olhasso also pointed at Caltrans for not complying with the city’s “numerous” requests for help.

“This horrific accident did not have to happen,” Olhasso said. “Caltrans should close the ’Crest to big rigs.”

Several letters have been sent and meetings taken between Caltrans representative Doug Failings and the city over the sand trap medians that line Angeles Crest Highway in La Cañada but are not marked.

L.A. Supervisor Michael Antonovich said that he too will be speaking with Caltrans and looking for a ban on big rigs along the ’Crest.

For Caltrans part, they stated they did not have the authority to ban the trucks. Whoever has the power to stop the trucks over the ’Crest, the evidence of how important it is to work together on a solution was evident on Wednesday.

The skies were crowded with helicopters and the air filled with the screams of ambulances early Wednesday evening as CHP closed Angeles Crest Highway at the 210 off ramps.

According to CV Sheriff Sgt. Mark Slater, Costa had apparently driven from the Antelope Valley into Crescenta Valley via the Angeles Crest Highway. The path is winding and the descending grade of the road caused brake failure of the suspect’s semi-truck.

The two fatalities, Angel Jorge Posca, 58, and his 12-year-old daughter Angelina, had just exited off the eastbound Foothill (210) Freeway in their red Ford Escort when the semi-truck struck their vehicle.

“They were pushed down Angeles Crest,” Slater said.

According to witnesses, the vehicles seemed to fly as the semi-truck plowed down the ’Crest.

Peter Curiel, who travels over the ’Crest every day to get to work, witnessed the accident as he sat facing eastbound on Foothill Boulevard, waiting to make a left turn onto Angeles Crest Highway.

He recounted seeing the carrier careening down Angeles Crest, hitting everything in its path.

“It came down so fast, it pushed everything out of its way,” Curiel said. “There were cars flying everywhere; a black car was spinning toward me and the driver was terrified. I saw his eyes.”

Two customers at Hill Street Café, Polly Jackson and Eileen McGann, were just paying their tab when the accident occurred.

Jackson was looking through the glass windows of the café, facing the highway, when she looked up and saw the truck “coming down Angeles Crest.”

“I heard it at first – it sounded like the brakes had locked,” Jackson said. “You could tell that there was no chance that it would stop in time. I just held up my hands and started backing up.”

McGann also saw the truck coming. She said that it turned its wheels at the last minute when it reached Foothill Boulevard. “It crashed into the bookstore – it caused a very loud sound,” McGann said.

The women were both shaking as they told of how they had planned on going to the bookstore to buy a gift for Eileen’s mother after their meal.

Emergency response came from L.A. County, Glendale, Arcadia, Pasadena and L.A. City fire departments as well as Crescenta Valley and Arcadia Sheriff and CHP. Foothill Boulevard was closed from Chevy Chase Boulevard to Beulah Drive until about 7 a.m. on Thursday; the Angeles Crest exits off the Foothill (210) Freeway were closed until about 8 a.m.

Flintridge Bookstore and Coffee Shop was open for business at the time of the accident and people were in the store, but there were only minor injuries reported. A woman in Melody Nail Salon, just east of the bookstore, reportedly suffered a broken leg.

A 17-year-old female driver from La Cañada was air lifted to L.A. Medical Center with a broken femur. The temporary helicopter pad was at Memorial Park.

There will be more discussion with L.A. County officials, Caltrans and the city of La Cañada as to how to prevent another tragedy like this from occurring. Many at the scene voiced concern and anger at the fact that sand trap medians are not clearly marked along the ’Crest. The memory of the September semi-truck full of onions that slammed into the employees’ parking lot at the Hill Street Café, just west of the bookstore, was fresh in everyone’s mind. That accident saw no injuries, just twisted metal from parked vehicles. Wednesday tragedy is what everyone had feared.

“You think of this all the time when going down Angeles Crest: If you lose your brakes, where are you supposed to stop?” Curiel said.

For more photos of Wednesday’s crash, click on Photo Galleries on the toolbar at left and go to the “Angeles Crest deadly crash” gallery.