New information on the mainly teenage victims of a devastating single-vehicle crash in Santa Ana late Saturday night has emerged.
Officer Natalie Garcia of the Santa Ana Police Department said police were summoned to the vicinity of West Segerstrom Avenue and South Townsend Street about 11:30 p.m. after receiving reports of a car colliding with a tree.
When officers arrived at the site, they located six people — five ladies and one male — inside the automobile at the time of the crash. Their early investigation found that the 18-year-old male driver was speeding westbound on Segerstrom when the accident occurred.
At least two of the victims were ejected from the car, and an adjacent black sedan received minor damage, but no one was injured.
Four of the victims were confirmed dead at the spot, a fifth is fighting for their life in a local hospital, and a sixth is in “grave condition.”
Initially, Santa Ana police reported that five of the victims had died, but later in the afternoon, they stated that two of them were still hospitalised.
Video footage obtained by KTLA shows the aftermath of the incident, with a heavy police presence along Segerstrom as firefighters climbed a ladder to approach the wrecked vehicle, which was destroyed beyond recognition close to a tree in the centre median.
Friends and family began converging at the crash site throughout the day to pay their condolences at the expanding memorial.
While their identities have not been officially revealed, individuals who knew them told KTLA’s Rachel Menitoff that the young people, including two sets of sisters, were all pals from Valley High School in Santa Ana.
Their closest friends described their sad deaths as extremely painful and difficult to believe.
One of the victims’ friends, named only as Veronica, claimed she fell into tears after hearing about the tragedy.
“It’s because I’ve known them for so long, and we’ve been through so much,” she told me.
Another acquaintance stated that she came to the crash site to express her love for the victims.
“You never know how much time you can spend with somebody,” said friend April Marie.
Police stated the investigation into the incident would take some time, but they believe alcohol and/or narcotics played a role in the catastrophic crash.
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