A motorcyclist was killed late Friday night in a multi-vehicle collision on the southbound 405 Freeway near Palms, shutting down lanes for more than two hours as investigators worked the scene. The crash happened around 11:50 p.m. south of Palms, according to authorities, and left one person dead with no other reported injuries.
The collision involved a motorcycle and two other vehicles, according to initial dispatch logs from the California Highway Patrol, which indicated the motorcycle was initially blocking lanes on the freeway. As reported by MyNewsLA.com, a CHP spokesperson confirmed one motorist was killed in the crash, though authorities said they had no information on the victim’s identity as of Saturday. All lanes reopened at 2:23 a.m. Saturday after CHP officers finished their investigation at the scene.
The stretch of freeway where the crash occurred falls under the jurisdiction of the CHP’s West Los Angeles field office, known as Station 565, which operates out of Culver City and handles traffic enforcement along both the 405 and 10 freeway corridors, per CHP’s Southern Division. It’s geographically the smallest field office in that division, but it oversees some of the busiest freeway miles in the country.
A Corridor With a History of Deadly Crashes
This is not the first fatal collision to strike this particular stretch of the 405 in Palms. Almost exactly a year earlier, on August 31, 2025, a fatal multi-vehicle crash on the southbound 405 near West Pico Boulevard claimed the life of 39-year-old Crystal Diaz Martinez, according to Belsito Communications. That crash also happened in the early morning hours in the same general vicinity…