POMONA, Calif. - The California Highway Patrol Saturday was investigating a deadly, wrong-way rollover crash that claimed the lives of two men on the San Bernardino (10) Freeway in Pomona during a police pursuit.
Officers from the Pomona Police Department were pursuing a black BMW X6 on the westbound freeway at about 4:45 p.m. Friday when the driver began going the wrong way near Kellogg Drive, lost control and crashed into a dirt berm, CHP Officer Sergio Garcia told City News Service.
The BMW rolled several times onto the transition road from the northbound Chino Valley (71) Freeway, Garcia said. The driver, identified as 30- year-old Erick Daniel Bolanos of Montclair, ran away but was quickly taken into custody, police said.
Two passengers inside the BMW were ejected in the crash and were pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
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One man was identified Saturday as 34-year-old Joey Gomez, who died from blunt traumatic injuries, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office. The second man was not yet identified.
A third passenger, a 45-year-old man, sustained non-life-threatening injuries to his abdomen and was taken to Pomona Valley Hospital for treatment, police said.
A 44-year-old woman was driving a white Toyota C-HR on the transition road when her vehicle was struck by debris from the BMW, but she was not injured.
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"The traffic crash is being investigated by the California Highway Patrol Baldwin Park Area, with the assistance of CHP Southern Division Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team, while any criminal charges against Mr. Bolanos are being pursued by Pomona Police Department," according to a CHP statement.
Anyone with information about the crash was asked to call CHP Officer H. Metzgar at 626-338-1164.