2 dead following grisly multi-car crash in Pomona; hit-and-run driver arrested
An 18-year-old man who police believe triggered a violent hit-and-run crash in Pomona, killing two people and critically injuring another, checked himself into a hospital in neighboring Montclair, authorities said.
Erik Elias Perez of Pomona was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, grand theft auto and hit-and-run resulting in death, police said.
The deadly two-car crash happened around 8:45 p.m. on Sunday on Garey Avenue north of Bonita Avenue. left two people dead and one other hospitalized in Pomona late Sunday evening.
Circumstances leading up to the collision remain unclear, but Pomona Police Department officers shut down Garey Avenue between Bonita Avenue and Harrison Avenue in both directions during the investigation.
Three people were trapped in the wreckage of an overturned SUV, police said.
A man and a woman who were the driver and front-seat passenger of the SUV were pronounced dead at the scene. Firefighters were able to free a woman believed to be in her 50s from the back seat of the SUV. She was taken to the hospital and is in critical condition.
The deceased have been identified as 71-year-old Ming Chih Tsao, who was driving the overturned SUV and Chang Yin Wu, one of the two passengers.
A neighbor who lives nearby heard the crash and jumped his backyard wall to rush to help. He said he saw one driver grabbing things to leave the scene.
"Grabbing his backpack or duffel bag and making a run away from the scene," said witness Bill Ryczek. "Everyone was saying he was the one that caused the accident. I chased him down to an apartment complex, where he went inside. When he came back out I lost him down Garey, where the police were trying to find him."
"He went into the apartment complex but he came back out further in a different driveway," said Ryczek. "So then I continued to pursue him down the roadway and I saw the police coming up, I tried to wave them on, they flew by me because of the accident, I had to wait for the next one to come up. Then I told them what was going on, and then they circled around and went to go chase for him."
With SkyCAL over the scene, one of the two vehicles could be seen overturned with debris littering the roadway. The second vehicle appeared to have collided with a tree off the side of the road and had considerable damage to the front end.
Anyone with information or who may have witnessed the crash was asked to contact the Pomona Police Dept. at (909) 620-2085.
