Updated: 3:33 p.m. Thursday.
A head-on collision possibly caused by an intoxicated driver killed one motorist Thursday and seriously injured another on State Route 56 in Rancho Penasquitos, the California Highway Patrol reported.
The wreck near Black Mountain Road occurred shortly after 9:30 a.m., when an eastbound Ranger Rover SUV veered across a center median and smashed into an oncoming 2010 Toyota Scion, according to the CHP.
The driver of the westbound car, a 22-year-old man from San Diego, died at the scene, CHP public-affairs Officer Jake Sanchez said. The victim's name was withheld pending family notification.
Medics took the other motorist, an 18-year-old San Diego resident whose name was not immediately available, to a hospital for treatment of severe injuries.
Investigators suspected that he was under the influence of some type of medication or other controlled substance at the time of the crash, Sanchez said.
The accident left the westbound side of the freeway closed in the area into the early afternoon.
-City News Service
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