SALT LAKE CITY — Authorities identified the Utah Marine killed in a head-on collision Tuesday in California as Lance Cpl. Matthew Ryan Adams, 19, of Orem.
Adams, who was stationed at Camp Pendleton, was driving a car when a man fleeing police in a pickup truck heading the wrong way on I-5 in Carlsbad crashed into his vehicle.
Emergency crews confirmed Adams and the 42-year-old driver of the pickup died at the scene. Police said a 35-year-old passenger in the pickup truck was taken by ambulance to a hospital with “major injuries.”
Oceanside police had stopped a Ford F-150 for minor violations at 12:12 a.m., according to police spokesman Tom Bussey. When officers left their patrol car, the driver of the truck sped away. Police abandoned the pursuit when the truck went the wrong way on northbound I-5, Bussey said.
The truck collided head-on with a Pontiac Grand Prix driven by Adams. Witnesses said speeds in the chase reached 100 mph, with the collision killing both drivers in a fiery crash around 12:20 a.m.