SAUGUS — Two people were killed in a wrong-way crash on Route 1 early Saturday morning, according to State Police.
All three northbound lanes of Route 1 were shut down for about three hours.
Multiple 911 callers reported a Chevy Impala traveling south on the northbound side of Route 1 in the area of Sonic Restaurant in Peabody shortly after 3:30 a.m., according to a statement from State Police. About five minutes later, the driver of the Chevy Impala, identified as Luis Gallego, 29, of Lynn, allegedly caused a head-on collision near the Army Barracks store in Saugus. Both Gallego and a passenger in the vehicle struck, identified as Evelyn Pinto, 48, of Peabody, have died, according to police.
A preliminary investigation indicates the Impala first clipped the rear end of a box truck, then crashed head-on into a 2018 Dodge Journey SUV occupied by two people, according to the statement. The operator of the Journey, a 51-year-old Peabody man, was brought to Massachusetts General Hospital with serious injuries. His passenger, Pinto, was brought to Melrose-Wakefield Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The driver of the box truck was not injured.
The circumstances of the crash, including the reason for the wrong-way operation, remain under investigation by Troop A of the Massachusetts State Police and the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section of the State Police Crime Scene Services Section.
