Three people are dead after a wrong-way crash on the 91 Freeway in Riverside on Thursday morning.
The California Highway Patrol said the deadly collision happened when a wrong-way driver crashed into a semi-truck and other vehicles at 2 a.m.
"I was dead asleep and then I heard what sounded like a train hitting another car," resident Moses Gonzales said.
It is unclear why the driver was traveling in the wrong direction. Witnesses told police that a Silver Kia drove head-on into a white Volkswagen Jetta and then into a semi-truck. The semi-truck driver survived.
The driver of the Kia, a passenger and the driver of the Jetta died at the scene.
"Couldn't really go back to sleep," Gonzales said. "I was just waiting to hear the sirens because I knew it had to be a pretty bad crash."
Officers issued a SIG Alert for the westbound portion of the freeway east of 14th Street, closing all but one lane for about six hours and causing a traffic jam during the morning commute.
Carmen Perez, who works off the 91 Freeway near where the crash happened, said the crash backed up traffic on the freeway and side streets, delaying her company's deliveries.
"I was so angry this morning because people were driving slow. I'm actually lucky that I missed that," Perez said.
