Crime & Safety
Northridge Man Charged With Murder In Wrong-Way Freeway Fatality
A 42-year-old Northridge man is suspected of drunkenly driving down the 405 Freeway Sunday morning, striking and killing another driver.
LOS ANGELES, CA — A wrong-way driver who struck a Jaguar on the Sepulveda Pass early Sunday morning is now facing murder charges for the death of the other driver.
Marco Abrego, of Northridge, is suspected of drunken driving and was charged Wednesday with murder and other counts stemming from a wrong-way crash on the San Diego (405) Freeway in West Los Angeles that killed another motorist.
Abrego, 42, pleaded not guilty to one felony count each of murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence of an alcoholic beverage causing injury.
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The charges include an allegation that Abrego refused to submit to and or willfully failed to complete a chemical test or tests, according to Ricardo Santiago of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Abrego was behind the wheel of a 2010 Toyota Tacoma that was traveling southbound in the northbound carpool lane when it slammed into a 2000 Jaguar S just south of Getty Center Drive just after 2:25 a.m. Sunday, according to the California Highway Patrol.
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The driver of the Jaguar, Joey Trianders Allen, 43, of Lancaster, died at the scene of the crash, according to the coroner's office.
Abrego -- who was arrested that morning by the CHP -- remains jailed while awaiting his next court appearance March 13.
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