5 Killed in a Rash of Traffic Accidents Over 14-Hour Span

Five people were killed in separate Orange County traffic accidents during a 14-hour span Friday and Saturday, and a victim from a sixth accident remained in critical condition with major head injuries, authorities reported Saturday.

Drunk-driving suspects were arrested in two of the six accidents, which occurred between noon Friday and 2:02 a.m. Saturday, police said.

“Are you sure this isn’t a holiday weekend?” asked Orange County Deputy Coroner Pam Luster, referring to the rise in fatalities that usually accompanies heavy holiday traffic.

The latest accident occurred in Brea shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday on Carbon Canyon Road, about half a mile east of Olinda Drive, when a motorcyclist leaving the La Vita Restaurant struck a guardrail and was thrown from his cycle, Brea Police Sgt. Chet Panique said.

Police Say They Were Misled

The motorcyclist’s body was not located until 3:55 a.m., Panique said.

Lt. Bill Lentini said police were delayed in looking for the body because they were misled by two people at the scene, who told authorities that the cyclist got into a car after the accident and was on his way to a hospital. In fact, the cyclist never left the scene, Lentini said. He could not say why the subjects, whom he did not identify, misled the officers. “That’s under investigation,” he said.

The cyclist, identified by Deputy Coroner Luster as John Mario Smith, 36, of the Hollydale area near Downey, was found more than 100 yards from the point of impact, Lentini said. The search for the cyclist, who was dead at the scene, was hampered because of the terrain and lack of lighting, he said.

Asked if Smith could have survived if he had been located sooner, Lentini replied, “I don’t know.” Police are awaiting the results of a coroner’s autopsy, he said.

In Fountain Valley, the driver of a Ford Mustang was killed at 10:40 p.m. Friday when a pickup truck, westbound on Warner Avenue, crossed over the center line “for an unknown reason” and collided with the eastbound car, Sgt. C. C. Corbin said.

The truck driver, Joseph Palmer, 29, of Huntington Beach, was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and of vehicular manslaughter after he was treated for minor injuries and released from Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, Corbin said.

Deputy Coroner Luster identified the victim as Karel Hoppenbrouwer, 45, of Santa Ana. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. A unidentified passenger in Hoppenbrouwer’s car was seriously injured and taken to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, police said.

The accident occurred between Bushard Street and the San Diego Freeway overcrossing, Corbin said.

Driver Arrested

At about the same time in Irvine, a woman was thrown from a car and critically injured when the Porsche in which she was riding turned over on Bonita Canyon Road, police said. Jillian Meade, 19, of Costa Mesa, sustained major head injuries in the accident, which occurred between Coyote Canyon and MacArthur Boulevard, Sgt. Scott Cade said.

The driver, Shaukat Akbar, 28, of Costa Mesa, was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, Cade said. Akbar and another passenger, Kelly Y. Shourds, 18, of Costa Mesa, were treated for minor injuries at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and released, he said.

Cade said Akbar and Shourds were wearing seat belts at the time of the accident and were not thrown from the car.

Earlier, at 9 p.m. Friday, a motorcyclist on the San Diego Freeway was killed when he struck the center divider and was thrown into the fast lane, where he was struck by five vehicles, said a California Highway Patrol dispatcher, who declined to be identified.

Victim Was a Marine

The identity of the victim, a Marine from the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, was not available Saturday, pending notification of next of kin by the military, authorities said.

The CHP dispatcher said the motorcyclist was northbound on Interstate 5, north of Avenida Pico, San Clemente, when “for an unknown reason” the driver accelerated from the slow lane, crossing all four lanes of the freeway, and hit the center divider.

There was no indication that the drivers whose cars struck him were cited, the dispatcher said.

Earlier Friday, a 14-year-old boy on a bicycle was struck and killed crossing an intersection in Garden Grove, police said.

Scotty Joe Henson of Garden Grove was pronounced dead at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital shortly after the 2:45 p.m. accident, police said. The boy was riding south on Topaz Street and trying to cross busy Lampson Avenue when he was struck by a car westbound on Lampson, police said. The driver was not held.

Woman Killed at Crossing

A few minutes after noon Friday, a woman crossing the street in Orange was struck by a car making a turn and later died of her injuries at UC Irvine Medical Center, police said.

Marianna Thorpe, 51, of Orange, was walking along the north side of Chapman Avenue and crossing Center Street when she was struck by a car turning left onto Chapman Avene, police said. The driver was not held, but the investigation is continuing.