A 22-year-old man was killed in a Friday evening crash on Tucson's far east side, when his car flipped over and caught fire after crashing head-on into another vehicle.
At about 5:15 p.m., Tucson police and firefighters went to a serious injury crash involving two vehicles at South Houghton Road and East Seven Generations Way, Sgt. Pete Dugan, a Tucson Police Department spokesman, wrote in a news release.
Paramedics found one of the cars flipped over and fully engulfed in flames with the driver trapped inside. Firefighters quickly began battling the fire and extinguished the flames, but the driver was pronounced dead at the scene, the release said.
The driver has been identified as Austin Ortiz.
Traffic detectives continued the investigation and have learned that a 1991 Chevrolet Camaro was driving northbound on Houghton at a high rate of speed, with witnesses describing the car weaving in and out of all three lanes of traffic and driving between 75 and 85 mph, the release said.
As the Camaro approached the intersection of Seven Generations Way, it crashed into the front end of a 1999 Toyota Camry that was traveling southbound on Houghton and intending to make a left turn onto Seven Generations, the release said.
The Camaro flipped and caught fire, spinning over to the east side of Houghton and onto a walking path, the release said.
The woman driving the Camry was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected during the crash. She was transported to Banner University Medical Center and is currently in critical, but stable condition, the release said.
