1 dead, 2 hospitalized after wrong-way crash in Phoenix

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — A wrong-way driver is said to have caused a multi-vehicle crash early Sunday morning, leaving that driver dead and four others injured in west Phoenix.

Crews responded around 5:30 a.m. Sunday, and found a 4-vehicle crash near 75th Avenue and Camelback Road, Phoenix police say. A man in the first vehicle, later identified as 19-year-old Jose Luis Palma Molina, died at the scene. Detectives say that Molina was driving north in the southbound lanes on 75th Avenue and crashed into three oncoming cars while driving in the wrong direction.

Police say that four people were injured. In the second vehicle, a 30-year-old man suffered non-life-threatening injuries, and a 50-year-old woman is in critical condition but expected to survive. In the third and fourth vehicles, a 30-year-old man and a 36-year-old woman had minor injuries and remained at the scene.

It is unknown if impairment is a factor in this crash. Phoenix police are continuing to investigate.

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