ESCONDIDO -- A dispute that started in a restaurant's drive-thru lane ended with a pickup truck ramming a passenger car on a freeway interchange, causing the pickup to roll and killing a passenger inside it, California Highway Patrol officers said Saturday.

A white car and a Toyota Tacoma pickup were at the drive-thru lane of a Jack-in-the-Box on El Norte Parkway about 1:50 Saturday morning, California Highway Patrol Sgt. Mike Morgan said.

The sergeant said the people inside the two vehicles had a confrontation and were asked to leave from the eatery.

Both vehicles were driven onto southbound Interstate 15, and while they were transitioning onto westbound Highway 78, the pickup struck the back of the white car, Morgan said.

The pickup rolled down an embankment, and a passenger was ejected, according to Morgan.

Medics pronounced the 24-year-old passenger dead at the scene.

The sergeant said the pickup driver was taken to Palomar Hospital and treated for a fractured vertebrae and a punctured lung, Morgan said.

Homicide charges may be filed against him, officers said.

The driver of the white car drove off, Morgan said. Although he is viewed as a victim in the chase and collision, he could still be charged with felony hit-and-run for leaving the scene of an accident with injury, police said.