Four people were killed and two were injured when a speeding car filled with mostly high school students crashed into a tree in Santa Ana, authorities said Sunday, April 6.
The crash occurred around 11:25 p.m. Saturday on Segerstrom Avenue, between Raitt and Greenville streets and a few blocks west of Carl Thornton Park, the Santa Ana Police Department said.
The small Lexus sedan was speeding westbound on Segerstrom, where it struck the tree, according to Officer Natalie Garcia.
“Some were wearing their seatbelts, others were not,” she said.
Four people were pronounced dead at the scene, Garcia said. Paramedics rushed two others to a hospital, where one was listed in critical condition.
Some of the occupants of the car were believed to be siblings or family members, and were in their teens and early 20s, Garcia said.
Drugs or alcohol may have contributed to the crash, she said.
Narda Alvarez, who has lived nearby on Segerstrom and Griset Place for 20 years, said she heard “a big, terrible noise,” that she likened to the sound of an airplane crashing.
She saw the aftermath, the wreckage of a car between two trees. Her neighbor, who lives across the street, started directing traffic around the crash. Alvarez said Segerstrom is a very busy street with lots of speeding drivers and that something needs to be done.
“We need police help or traffic lights,” she said.
Yolanda Gomez, who lives in Alvarez’s home, said there is a homeless man who sleeps on the sidewalk across from where the crash occurred. Her first concern was that he was hurt. He wasn’t, but she said he may have seen everything.
No further information was available as of Sunday afternoon.
City News Service contributed to this report.