3 Killed, 2 Hurt in Separate Accidents

Three people were killed in two separate traffic accidents Sunday morning on freeways in the San Fernando and Antelope valleys, the California Highway Patrol reported.

Two Palmdale boys, Yisidro Goldman, 17, and Vincent Matute, 16, were pronounced dead after they were thrown from a 1995 Ford Escort that overturned on the Antelope Valley Freeway near Pearblossom Highway in the Palmdale area about 3:20 a.m., according to CHP Officer Frank Sansone and the coroner’s office.

The car was traveling at a high rate of speed when it went off the freeway, hit an embankment and rolled over, Sansone said. The boys were not wearing seat belts.

The driver, Sofhia L. Ponce, had been wearing a seat belt. The 18-year-old Palmdale woman suffered major head trauma and was taken by helicopter to UCLA Medical Center.

Ponce and Matute share the same grandparents, CHP Officer Karen Faciane said. Officials do not yet know if they are related to Goldman.

Sansone said standard blood toxicology tests were ordered on the driver.

About 2 1/2 hours later on the Ventura Freeway near Griffith Park, a driver traveling the wrong way on the westbound side was killed when his Honda Civic crashed head-on into a Chevrolet Impala just east of the Golden State Freeway.

The dead driver was identified as a 25-year-old Lake Los Angeles man. The 22-year-old Burbank woman driving the Impala was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank with moderate injuries, Sansone said.

The CHP did not release the victim’s name because the family had not yet been notified.

No arrests were made and no charges were filed in either case.