RANCHO CUCAMONGA – An 18-year-old Lancaster resident was killed early Wednesday morning after he drove his Toyota Prius in the wrong direction on the 15 Freeway and crashed head-on into a semi-tractor trailer, authorities said.
Liam Niemeyer was pronounced dead at the scene of the collision, according to a press release by the San Bernardino County Coroner’s Office.
“On Oct. 22, 2014, at 5:18 a.m., the California Highway Patrol began receiving calls of a head-on collision on Interstate 15 northbound, just south of the Baseline Avenue exit in Rancho Cucamonga,” the press release states. “When officers arrived they found that a silver 2012 Toyota Prius had been traveling southbound in the northbound lanes of traffic and struck a semi-tractor trailer that was traveling northbound in the lane closest to the shoulder.”
The Prius burst into flames on impact, according to Teresa McMahon, spokesperson for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Rancho Cucamonga station. The semi-tractor trailer also caught fire, but its driver was not injured in the collision, according to published reports.
[View photos from the collision scene here and here.]
The Rancho Cucamonga Station of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, Major Accident Investigation Team is investigating the incident.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Deputy Richard Buss at 909-477-2800.
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senseless says
Another absolutely-positively senseless death, and another poster child for parents like me to remind my teenagers “I trust you completely- it’s the OTHER teenage driver’s I don’t trust!” when griping about teenage drivers. My condolences to the family and know that your son is in a far, far better place now.