Man Who Died in Crash Identified

The man who died in the fiery five-vehicle crash on the 170 Freeway on Wednesday night was identified Thursday as 57-year-old Young Sup Lee of Northridge, authorities said.

Lee died after a pickup truck rammed into the rear of his Jeep Grand Cherokee at about 6:05 p.m. Wednesday and caught fire, according to the California Highway Patrol. The driver of the pickup, Gary Lee Barlow, a 49-year-old resident of Canyon Country, suffered moderate injuries.

“There’s no indication preliminarily that alcohol or drugs were a factor” in the accident, said CHP Officer Ron Cohan. But early indications suggest Barlow he was at fault because his vehicle struck Lee’s, Cohan said.

Barlow had been driving northbound on the Hollywood Freeway approaching rush-hour traffic that was virtually stopped at the interchange with the Golden State Freeway, according to the CHP.

His truck slammed Lee’s Jeep forward into the rear of a Honda Civic driven by Wayne McWhorter, 37, of Valencia, which in turn struck the rear of a Ford F-150 pickup truck driven by Joseph Mancini, 39, of Canyon Country. McWhorter received minor injuries and Mancini was not injured, Cohan said.

After colliding with Lee’s Jeep, Barlow’s truck careened into another lane and crashed into a Ford Ranger pickup driven by Barlow’s 19-year-old son, Kenneth Leon Barlow, who suffered moderate injuries. The two pickups finally crashed into barriers next to the freeway shoulder and stopped, according to the CHP. The Barlows were transported to an area hospital.

“As of right now, there’s nothing to suggest [Gary Barlow’s] vehicle was exceeding the speed limit,” said CHP Officer Ron Cohan. The accident is still under investigation.