High School Track Star Injured : Rain Blamed as 2 Die, 6 Hurt in Car Crashes

A collision on a wet highway Saturday in Newhall killed a 15-year-old boy and injured five others, including a star high school distance runner, authorities said.

It was the first of two fatal traffic accidents in the area attributed to the rain.

The boy, Keith Cooper, of Newhall, died after the car in which he was riding began to hydroplane, crossed into the oncoming southbound lanes of Sierra Highway and was struck broadside by another car, the California Highway Patrol reported.

Injured Girls Are Teammates

Two injured passengers in the second car were Heather Scobie, 17, one of the top high-school distance runners in Southern California, and Shana Bird, 16, a teammate of Scobie’s on the Saugus High School track and cross-country teams.

Scobie, who placed second in the 1985 and 1986 Southern Section 3-A cross-country championships, and Bird were listed in critical condition at Holy Cross Hospital in Mission Hills, a hospital spokeswoman said.

CHP dispatcher Kay Burdick said the driver of their car was Melissa Zidle, 17, of Valencia. A spokeswoman at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital would not disclose Zidle’s condition.

A CHP spokeswoman said the 12:50 p.m. accident north of the Antelope Valley Freeway probably occurred because of bald tires on the car in which Cooper was riding and rain on the road. Although the speed limit there is 50 m.p.h., rain might require drivers to go considerably slower than the 45 m.p.h. at which the car is believed to have been traveling, officers said.

Two of Cooper’s brothers, identified by the CHP as Kyle, 15, and the driver, Kevin, 23, were treated at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia and released, the hospital spokeswoman said.

Internal Injuries, Broken Bones

Scobie was in surgery late Saturday after suffering internal injuries, Holy Cross spokeswoman Holly Lyons said. Bird’s collarbone, shoulder and left arm were broken, Lyons said.

In another accident attributed to Saturday’s heavy rains, an Agua Dulce man was killed and a Pacoima man was critically injured in a head-on collision on Pearblossom Highway near Palmdale, the CHP reported.

Robert Wells, 30, was pronounced dead at the scene. Clarence Rachel, 30, was listed in critical condition at Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center, with broken arms and legs and a lacerated liver, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The CHP said that the speed of the vehicles was unknown and that fog may have contributed to the accident.