BALDWIN PARK — Officials sought a car that fled the scene of a crash on the San Bernardino (10) Freeway in Baldwin Park early Wednesday that sent two people to the hospital, one of them with major injuries.
A 63-year-old Los Angeles man was driving a Chevrolet van with a 56-year-old Los Angeles woman riding as a passenger when the collision took place about 5:20 a.m., CHP Officer Rodrigo Jimenez said.
“They were in the No. 2 lane of the 10 East, west of Puente Avenue, at approximately 65 mph when an unknown vehicle, possibly a blue sports car, collided with (the van) on its left side,” the officer said.
The driver of the van lost control, and collided a second time with the same car, Jimenez said.
“That second collision caused the van to run off the road to he right and collide into the Laidlaw’s Harley-Davidson building,” he said. The van did not penetrate the building.
The second vehicle involved in the crash fled the scene, Jimenez said.
Rescuers landed a helicopter on the freeway to hospitalize the injured occupants of the van.
The woman suffered major injuries including a compound fracture to her femur and cuts to her face and head, officials said. The driver suffered apparently minor injuries.
Both were flown to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center for treatment, Jimenez said.
The crash remained under investigation, and anyone with information was asked to contact the CHP’s Baldwin Park office at 626-338-1164.

BALDWIN PARK — A passer-by rescued an 18-year-old man as he attempted to hang himself at a park early Sunday, authorities said.
The incident took place about 1:45 a.m. at Hilda Solis Park, 15010 Badillo Street, Baldwin Park police Sgt. Mark Harvey said.
David Richard Martinez, 29, of Covina said he had missed the last Metrolink train and was was taking a short cut to a friends house when he encountered a young man hanging motionless from a tree by his neck.
“I thought this can’t be real,” Martinez said.
Harvey said the young man had used some sort of bag to create a noose for the suicide attempt.
“I don’t know how long he was hanging there,” Martinez said, adding that he appeared to be dead.
“I picked him up by his legs,” he said. “The noose came right off.”
When the young man fell from the tree and hit the ground, he seemingly “came back to life” and gasped for air, Martinez said. “I couldn’t believe it.”
Harvey said little officials information was available Sunday regarding the encounter between the suicidal young man and his rescuer. But he confirmed that an 18-year-old man was found in the midst of an attempted suicide by hanging, and a passer-by “detained him” until authorities arrived.
The man, who told investigators he was trying to kill himself, was taken for psychiatric evaluation, Harvey said.

BALDWIN PARK — Officials advised occupants of businesses and homes in the area of Littlejohn Street to stay indoors Thursday in response to an ammonia leak at a manufacturing business, officials said.
The incident was first reported about 12:45 p.m. at a business at MacDonald Carbide Co., 4510 Littlejohn Street, according to Baldwin Park police and Los Angeles County Fire Department officials.
One person reported feeling ill as a result of the toxic fumes but declined to be taken to a hospital, Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Brian Riley said.
It initially appeared work was being done in the area when a power line was severed, causing a power outage that cause a 3,000-gallon tank of ammonia to begin leaking, Riley said. It was not clear Thursday how much of the chemical escaped.
Police cordoned off the area as a hazardous materials crew shut off a leaking pressure valve, he said.
Ammonia gas dissipates naturally in the atmosphere, so an extensive clean-up operation was not necessary, the inspector added.
No evacuations were ordered, Baldwin Park police Lt. David Reynoso said, however those in the area were told to stay indoors as Los Angeles County Fire Department firefighters took care of the leak and tested the air.
Some nearby businesses evacuated voluntarily.

PHOTO: Employees of nearby businesses evacuate from the 4500 block of
Littlejohn Street in Baldwin Park as a Los Angeles County Fire
Department hazardous material crew deals with an ammonia spill at a
business on Thursday, Jan. 3, 2012. (Courtesy of Jason Dowling)

BALDWIN PARK — A 16-year-old girl died and a 20-year-old man was severely injured in a violent solo-car crash on the San Gabriel River (605) Freeway early Sunday, officials said.
Ashley Ruth Garcia of Bell was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which reported at 12:01 a.m. on the northbound 605 Freeway, just south of the San Bernardino (10) Freeway, according to Lt. Larry Dietz of the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner.
She was a passenger in a 1995 Honda Del Sol being driven by a 20-year-old Bell man, California Highway Patrol Officer E. Bernal said in a written statement. The driver, who was thrown from the car in the crash, was hospitalized with major injuries.
The Del Sol was traveling at “a high rate of speed” in the carpool lane when, for reasons that remained under investigation, the driver lost control, Bernal said.
The car veered across all lanes of traffic and went off the roadway, he said. It struck a tree and wrought iron fence before coming to a rest on its roof.
The driver was thrown from the car in the crash and taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center for treatment of major injuries, Bernal said.
Firefighters pronounced Garcia dead at the scene at 12:39 a.m.
Officials shut down the right three lanes of the northbound 605 Freeway for about three hours following the fatal crash, according to CHP logs.
The cause of the crash was being investigated by officers from the CHP’s East Los Angeles Office.