His car plowed into a big rig, which also collided with another car, before erupting into a fireball near the Reseda exit late Tuesday night.
Mann died at the scene. The semi truck driver was taken to the hospital.
"All I could think of was oh my God I'm on the top of that car. Then I was going sideways. Oh my God, that barrier, I didn't want to go over that barrier because I didn't want to hit someone else," said Pamela Sullivan, truck driver.
That's when the big rig caught fire, forcing the 55-year-old driver to make her escape.
The two people in the other car were not hurt.
It took nearly nine hours to fully reopen the freeway.
