Man, woman decapitated after slamming into parked semi-truck, California officials say

Two people were decapitated after crashing into a semi-truck on the side of a freeway on Sunday, according to California authorities.

A man was driving with a woman in the passenger seat in Sylmar on the 5 Freeway (Interstate 5) and collided with a parked semi-truck, said California Highway Patrol Officer Patrick Kimball, KTLA reported.

Both people were decapitated and their names haven’t been released, according to the station.

The semi-truck was parked on the side of the freeway and was rear-ended by the man driving a 2010 Lexus sedan “that failed to maintain the curve in the road just prior to the crash,” City News Service reported, citing a CHP statement.

CHP said that witnesses told them the sedan caught on fire and that the two people inside the sedan died at the scene while the 35-year-old driver of the big rig was unharmed, according to the publication.

“All I felt was a major hit,” the driver of the semi-truck, who asked to not be identified, told the Los Angeles Times. “I felt like I was hit by a semi.”

Speeding likely played a factor in the crash, which is still be investigated, according to KTLA.

This story was originally published August 16, 2021 at 12:14 PM with the headline "Man, woman decapitated after slamming into parked semi-truck, California officials say."