A woman and man died in separate wrecks on Interstate 45 near the 610 Loop in north Houston last night, officials said.

In the first wreck, a man who was reportedly involved in an altercation on a Metro bus was running from police when he was hit by cars on the North Freeway near the North Loop, according to the Metropolitan Transit Authority.

About 90 minutes after the first collision, a young woman died when her vehicle plowed into the back of an 18-wheeler that was slowing down on the southbound North Freeway near Crosstimbers about 11:45 p.m., according to the Houston Police Department. Traffic had slowed because of the first accident, police said.

Police said the young woman, whose name has not been released, was driving a Chevrolet car southbound on the North Freeway.

She died at the scene. Three passengers in her car were rushed to hospitals. The front-seat passenger had minor injuries, police said. Police said the two rear-seat passengers had head trauma and were in critical condition.

Their names have not been released.

No other injuries were reported in that crash.

Metro officials said the man who died in the first collision had been in an altercation with another passenger on a bus in midtown at Smith and West Gray.

The bus driver stopped the bus and contacted Metro police about the altercation. The man got off the bus and left before police arrived, Metro officials said.

Metro officials said witnesses told police they had seen him board a second bus that was traveling northbound away from downtown. Police followed the bus and stopped it near Crosstimbers and the North Freeway service road.

They asked the man to step off the bus so they could ask him questions about the earlier altercation, but the man dashed away. It was later determined he ran onto the freeway, where he was hit by passing vehicles and died.

The man’s name has not been released.