3 people die in north Phoenix car crash on Interstate 17

PHOENIX — Three people died after a triple vehicle collision Monday night on Interstate 17.

The crash occurred when a white Camaro driver ran through a red light near Thunderbird Road and Black Canyon Highway, according to witnesses who told police what happened.

The driver, who had been heading west on Thunderbird Road, crashed into a red Chevrolet Traverse that had been heading south on the I-17 Southbound Access Road, police said.

The initial impact slammed the red Chevrolet Traverse into a black Subaru, which was stopped for a red light and facing east, according to police.

Flames shot up from the crash site

At around 12 p.m., Phoenix police found a fiery crash scene.

The white Camaro’s driver escaped the vehicle before it burst into flames. The car’s passenger, 21-year-old Esteban Espinoza Lopez, wasn’t so lucky.

Although the Phoenix Fire Department quickly arrived on the scene, extinguished the fire and rescued Lopez, he later died from his injuries at a hospital, police said.

The driver of the red SUV the white Camaro crashed into also died from his injuries.

Fifty-four-year-old Majid Al Juhaishi was seriously injured and unresponsive, police said. They transported him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Tessa Jeffrey, who had been riding in the passenger seat of Al Juhaishi’s SUV, flew out of the vehicle after the crash. She hadn’t been wearing a seatbelt prior to the accident, police said.

She was pronounced dead on the scene.

Two survivors of the triple vehicle collision also went to the hospital

Two people had been riding in the black Subaru during the crash. The man and woman went to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. After treatment, they were released.

The white Camaro driver, a 22-year-old male, was released pending the results of the toxicology reports, police said.

The Phoenix Police Department is still investigating the events leading up to the collision.