3 killed, 4 hurt in fiery crash in Orange
Two males and a girl were killed and four others were injured, including the driver, in a single-car crash in Orange early Saturday morning.
It happened around 2:45 a.m., according to officers with the Orange Police Department.
A 2005 Nissan Altima, carrying seven people inside, was speeding on Glassell Street.
Nineteen-year-old Azarie Fuller from Exeter, Calif., was identified as the driver of the vehicle, according to Orange PD who made the announcement on its Facebook account.
Orange County PD officers were patrolling the area when they spotted the Nissan traveling at high rate of speed.
When officers caught up with the vehicle, the car was engulfed in flames. The driver was speeding at approximately 100 miles per hour in a 30-40 mph zone traveling south on Glassell Street from Lincoln Avenue.
All seven people inside the car were injured as a result to the crash. Police said that none of the people inside the car were wearning seatbelts.
A juvenile female, juvenile male and a 26-year-old man were pronounced dead at the scene. The adult male was identified as Gustavo Castro from Garden Grove.
A possible nitrous oxide tank and balloons were found "in and around the vehicle," said Sgt. Phil McMullin of the Orange Police Department.
"It hit guardrails and signal lights related to a railroad crossing," he said.
The two males and the female were pronounced dead at the scene and paramedics rushed four people -- three with critical injuries and one with moderate injuries -- to hospitals, he said. One of the critically injured was the motorist driving the Nissan.
Two of the three critically injured people were minors, he added.
"Impairment and speed were factors in this collision," McMullin said.
Family and friends of one of the victims who died were at the scene of the crash on Saturday night, putting together a vigil for the lives lost.
CBSLA Reporter Lauren Pozen talked to a witness of the horrific event.
Joshua Ellis said he was heading to work for his overnight shift when he saw trails of the crash. As he got closer to the intersection of Glassell and Taft Avenue, he was met with fire trucks and saw a car he describes as glowing with a huge plume of smoke coming out of it.
"I see a firefighter with a hose watering it down and he paused for a second and then it went up again in flames and then you see one firefighter tell him get back its going to go up again," Ellis said.
Crews later arrived to repair the traffic signal at the train tracks at an intersection Ellis said is typically is a quiet stretch of road.
"For them to just have a few hours of enjoyment. ... I have an 18-year-old daughter (and) I would not want to receive that phone call that she passed away doing stupid things," Ellis said.