A woman checking on a vehicle’s occupants who crashed after losing control was killed after another vehicle struck her according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
DPS previously described the incident as a wrong-way collision before correcting itself just before 2 p.m.
Bart Graves, an agency spokesperson, said the driver of a Dodge Durango was heading west on Loop 202 at around 5:22 a.m. Sunday when they lost control and struck the median near 40th Street, causing the vehicle to spin before coming to rest facing the opposite direction. The driver fled on foot after impact and was not located.
A tire came off the Durango and went into the freeway’s eastbound lanes, according to Graves. He said a woman acting as a good Samaritan stopped her vehicle on the right emergency shoulder, activated her hazard lights and exited her vehicle to check on the Durango’s occupants.
Graves said the driver of another vehicle saw the Durango facing the wrong way and swerved to the right, striking the woman who would later be pronounced dead at the hospital. That vehicle’s driver was also taken to a hospital with injuries. Impairment was not ruled out as a factor as of Sunday afternoon.
Graves added that another vehicle struck the Durango, and the vehicle’s driver stayed at the scene and wasn’t injured. A fifth collision occurred involving three vehicles a short time after, and while there were no injuries, one of the drivers involved was arrested for DUI.
The Arizona Department of Transportation said the freeway had reopened just after 11 a.m.