Three Killed in Separate Accidents

One man died after being ejected from a car driven by an alleged drunk driver and two other people were hit and killed in traffic accidents throughout Orange County, marking an unusually high traffic-related death toll over the weekend, authorities said Sunday.

In an accident Sunday, a 79-year-old woman crossing Main Street in Santa Ana was struck and killed by a pickup truck heading south, Sgt. Dick Faust said.

Antonia Yanez Garcia of Santa Ana was in a crosswalk about 7:30 a.m. when she was hit. Garcia suffered massive head injuries and multiple bone fractures and was transported to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where she died a few hours later, Faust said.

The 22-year-old truck driver did not have a driver’s license and officers impounded the vehicle, police said. He has not been cited pending the completion of the investigation.

In Westminster late Saturday, a 24-year-old man was killed after being ejected from a luxury sedan driven by a suspected drunk driver who was traveling about 70 mph on Brookhurst Street, authorities said. The accident happened at 10:30 p.m.

The driver, Cuong Ky Au, 25, of Fountain Valley, was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and felony drunk driving, Sgt. Robert Amren said in a prepared statement. He was being held at the Orange County Jail.

Investigators said the driver was speeding north on Brookhurst Street when he rear-ended another vehicle in a left-turn lane on Bishop Street, according to Amren. Both cars were pushed to a southbound lane of Brookhurst Street, causing another driver, who was in a van, to plow into the wreckage, police said.

Antoine Nguyen, a passenger in the sedan, was ejected and died at UCI Medical Center in Orange from massive head injuries, Amren said. Another passenger, whom police did not identify, was in critical condition at the same hospital, police said.

Gultap Kurt, 34, of Garden Grove, who was driving the second vehicle, suffered minor injuries and was treated at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center and released, Amren said. The van driver was not injured.

About two hours earlier Saturday night, a pedestrian running across Beach Boulevard near 21st Street was hit and killed by a station wagon traveling south on the same street, Amren said. The 18-year-old pedestrian, Juvenal Silva Rios, was transported to UCI Medical Center, where he died.

The victim was seen sitting on a bus bench about 8 p.m. on the east side of Beach Boulevard when for unknown reasons he “got up and ran,” Amren said. He was not in a crosswalk, authorities said.

The 36-year-old driver, of Huntington Beach, was not cited, pending the results of an investigation, police said.