Man killed in 5 Freeway rollover crash, ejected onto freeway sign [ ] Hide Caption [ ] Show Caption According to reports from the scene, a car rolled over and ejected a person, whose body ended up perched atop a freeway sign. Local News Man killed in rollover crash, ejected onto freeway sign UPDATE: The driver's been identified as 20-year-old Richard Pananian of Burbank. Police say he was not wearing a seat-belt. No other injuries were reported. 
 
 - UPDATE: The driver's been identified as 20-year-old Richard Pananian of Burbank. Police say he was not wearing a seat-belt. No other injuries were reported. 
 
 A 20-year-old man died Friday in a high-speed rollover crash on the southbound Golden State (5) Freeway that propelled him onto a 20-foot-tall freeway sign, authorities said. 
 
 The crash that killed Burbank resident Richard Pananian happened about 7 a.m. near Colorado Boulevard and the Ventura (134) Freeway interchange. 
 
 Pananian, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected when his Ford compact collided with another vehicle and rolled over several times, according to the California Highway Patrol. 
 
 The momentum flung him 20 to 30 feet in the air onto the walkway of the Colorado Boulevard freeway sign. 
 
 "It's something I've never seen...they had to use a ladder to climb up to the body..." - Rick Dickert Man killed in 5... Posted by Fox 11 Los Angeles on Friday, October 30, 2015 
 
 Authorities covered the body, which remained there for about three hours. About 10 a.m., the CHP closed the freeway for around 20 minutes in both directions while firefighters removed the body. 
 
 "Driving at a high rate of speed, not wearing (a) seatbelt, and rolling over ... people get ejected out of cars like that,'' CHP Officer Edgar Figueroa said. 
 
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 A 20-year-old Burbank man whose body landed on an overhead exit ramp sign after a rollover crash near Griffith Park was passing vehicles on the right shoulder of the 5 Freeway before veering out of control, CHP announced Friday afternoon. 
 
 The collision occurred just before 7 a.m. on the southbound freeway just north of the eastbound 134 Freeway overpass (map). 
 
 Richard Pananian of Burbank was killed, according to Lt. David Smith of the Los Angeles County coroner's office. 
 
 A witness told the California Highway Patrol that Pananian was driving his 2004 Ford Fiesta at a high rate of speed and passing vehicles on the right shoulder. 
 
 The 45-year-old driver of a 2004 Ford F-150 was in the No. 4 lane going 50 mph when Pananian veered left from the right-hand shoulder and hit the pickup truck’s rear, according to a CHP collision report. 
 
 The Fiesta then veered right, out of control, and overturned multiple times. As the Fiesta traveled up an embankment, Pananian was ejected about 20 feet into the air, colliding with an exit ramp sign overhead, the report stated. 
 
 Pananian came to rest on the “ledge” in front of the sign. His severely damaged Fiesta rolled back onto the freeway. 
 
 "Based on the injuries sustained and force of impact" with the F-150, it wasn’t clear exactly what killed Pananian, the CHP report stated. 
 
 He was pronounced dead by Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics. 
 
 The F-150 driver, who had two passengers in his truck, was not injured, nor were his passengers. 
 
 It appeared Pananian was not wearing a seat belt, according to CHP. 
 
 "Any time you speed and you don't wear your seat belt, there's a good chance you're going to get hurt, if not killed," CHP Officer Edgar Figueroa said on scene. 
 
 It was not known if drugs or alcohol were a factor in the crash, the CHP report stated. 
 
 Pananian's body was covered with a sheet after firefighters ascended a ladder and worked to remove the body in the 9 a.m. hour. The body remained there for several hours. 
 
 He had landed on a sign alerting drivers to the Colorado Street exit, three-quarters of a mile away. 
 
 Pananian apparently worked at a Van Nuys-based automobile sales company called L.A. Autostore. "Rest in peace," the company stated of "Tiko" on Facebook. 
 
 All southbound and northbound lanes of the 5 Freeway were temporarily blocked, and the two southbound right lanes were closed for an extended period. 
 
 All lanes reopened about 11 a.m., CHP's Southern Division stated on Twitter. 
 
 The incident happened in the Griffith Park area, bordering on the northern section of the Atwater Village neighborhood of Los Angeles. 
 
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 Please enable Javascript to watch this video ||||| Officials investigate the scene of a three-car accident where six people were killed on the westbound 60 Freeway near Philips Ranch Road in Diamond Bar early Sunday morning. The driver of the red Chevy Camaro was heading the wrong way when it collided head-on with a Ford Explorer. Watchara Phomicinda San Gabriel Valley Tribune staff photographer 
 
 Police arrested a new mother on suspicion of manslaughter and drunken driving Sunday morning after a horrific wrong-way collision on a southern California freeway that left six people dead. 
 
 Five women and one man died in the 5 a.m. head-on accident between a red Chevy Camaro and a Ford Explorer, California Highway Patrol officials said. The incident occurred in the westbound lanes of the 60 Freeway in Diamond Bar, Calif. At least one “tall boy” style beer can was discovered at the scene. 
 
 Olivia Carolee Culbreath, 21, was arrested. 
 
 “There was alcoholic beverage evidence,” officer Rodrigo Jimenez said. “We're treating this as a crime scene.” 
 
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 At least two people were thrown onto the freeway in the collision, he added. The driver and lone occupant in a third vehicle — described as a Ford Freestyle — also suffered minor injuries, officials said. 
 
 It was uncertain how many passengers were in either car. 
 
 “It's a horrific accident. Our hearts go out the family members and friends of the victims,” Jimenez said as he gestured toward an unrecognizable tangle of metal about 100 yards away. 
 
 Culbreath was taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center where she was treated for injuries she suffered in the crash. She was wheeled from a recovery room to a lock-up in the hospital and appeared to be on a respirator and under sedation Sunday afternoon. Officials planned to interview Culbreath when she regained consciousness. 
 
 Social media accounts linked to Culbreath indicated she gave birth to a child in late-January. 
 
 The driver's friend, Wendell Johnson, said the group in Culbreath's car had been on a “girls' night out.” 
 
 One witness at the scene described seeing a 24-oz. beer can in the front seat area of the Camaro, as well as a tassel similar to those worn during school graduations. 
 
 Minutes before the crash, officials began receiving reports that a car was heading north in the southbound lanes of the freeway, then east in the westbound lanes of another freeway, according to highway patrol officials and logs. Witnesses reported the car was traveling at high speed, with estimates ranging from 70 mph to more than 100 mph. 
 
 Staff Writers Frank C. Girardot and Greg Cappis contributed to this report.
– Authorities were left in disbelief after a man's body landed on top of a freeway sign following a car crash Friday morning in Los Angeles, Fox 11 reports. "I've never seen anything like this or heard anything like this," a highway patrol spokesperson tells the Los Angeles Times. "It's the first time." The highway patrol received reports of a Ford Fiesta driving recklessly around 7am local time. According to Fox 11, the Fiesta hit another vehicle and rolled. The driver, who wasn't wearing a seatbelt, was launched 20 to 30 feet in the air, landing improbably on top of a nearby freeway sign. One witness told police that the driver had been passing cars on the right shoulder of the road, reports KTLA. Police say he eventually clipped the rear of a pickup, which caused his own car to spin out of control. The body of the man was covered by authorities but stayed on the sign for approximately three hours until the freeway could be closed to let firefighters remove it. He has been identified as 20-year-old Richard Pananian of Burbank. (In another car accident tragedy, a woman's husband and child were killed—and she lost all memory of them.)