Head-On Calabasas Crash Kills 1, Hurts 7

A Granada Hills teen-ager was killed and seven people were injured, two critically, when a compact car ran head-on into a pickup truck on a winding road in Calabasas, the California Highway Patrol reported.

The accident at 9:15 p.m. Thursday on Las Virgenes Road, about a mile south of the Ventura Freeway, was the second fatal crash in the area in eight days involving teen-agers traveling to or returning from the beach.

Syed I. Husin, 17, a passenger in the car, was pronounced dead at UCLA Medical Center at 10:30 p.m., a hospital spokesman said.

Rosenberg said the driver of the southbound car apparently tried to pass a truck where the road narrows from four to two lanes, then veered back across the road and hit the northbound pickup.

Eight in Vehicles

The car’s “right wheels . . . apparently hit a ditch on the shoulder of the road, causing it to go out of control,” Rosenberg said. “They apparently didn’t know the lane was ending. They just didn’t get back in time.”

Eight people were riding in the two vehicles, according to CHP Officer Monty Keifer. David Cohen, 18, the driver of the car, and Jeffrey Stein, 15, another passenger, were listed in critical condition in the intensive care unit of Westlake Community Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said. Their addresses were not available.

Francisco Perez, 19, a passenger in the pickup, was listed in serious condition with spinal injuries at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, a spokeswoman said.

Three Thrown Clear

Fidel Torrez, the driver of the pickup, injured his head and knees and was listed in stable condition Friday at Humana Hospital-West Hills in Canoga Park. Three other passengers in the pickup were thrown clear, the CHP said. They were treated at the hospital and released, a spokeswoman said.

Rosenberg said the people in the car were going to the beach. The pickup apparently was returning from the beach, Keifer said.

Keifer said the CHP found no evidence of drunk driving.

Rosenberg said Las Virgenes Road is not a trouble spot for the CHP. The earlier fatal crash in the area occurred on June 26 on Kanan Road when three San Fernando Valley teen-agers returning from the beach and a 38-year-old Houston man driving a stolen car were killed in a collision.