Local News in Brief : Wrong-Way Car Driver Collides With Truck

Acar traveling in the wrong direction collided with a semitrailer truck on the Golden State Freeway in Valencia on Thursday, California Highway Patrol officers said.

The driver of the car, Miguel Angel Giron, 19, of Los Angeles, was in fair condition at County-USC Medical Center with a broken leg and cuts on his face, hospital officials said.

Giron was driving against the flow of traffic in the slow lane of the northbound freeway south of Rye Canyon Road when he collided with the truck, driven by Ricky Thomas Didley, 32, of Firebaugh, Calif., Officer Ralph Elvira said.

Didley had just changed lanes when he saw Giron’s 1980 Toyota Celica coming toward him, Elvira said. Giron’s car was pushed onto the shoulder by the impact; Didley’s truck was forced over a small shoulder embankment but he was not injured, Elvira said.

CHP officers gave Giron a blood-alcohol test after the accident and described him as “showing obvious symptoms of intoxication,” including an odor of alcohol on his breath, bloodshot eyes and slurred speech, Elvira said. Results of the test could take three to four weeks, he said.