Driver Faces Murder Counts in Glendale Crash Fatal to 3

A suspected drunk driver was charged with three counts of murder Wednesday in a weekend traffic accident in Glendale that killed three people.

Aram Barsumyan, 30, of Los Angeles, was being held in Los Angeles County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 8 in Glendale Municipal Court.

Barsumyan was arrested Saturday night after his car collided head-on with another carrying five people returning from a holiday shopping trip.

The crash killed Azusa residents Francisco Cruz, 42, and his wife, Olga Yolanda Cruz, 31, and Olga’s sister, Maria Hernandez, 33, of Los Angeles.

The Cruz children, Byron, 12, and Brenda, 6, were seriously injured.

Barsumyan sustained minor injuries.

As the charges were being filed Wednesday afternoon, Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner held a news conference at the Glendale courthouse and lamented the carnage caused by holiday revelers who drink and drive.

“Nothing sinks in,” he said. “We see more of these day after day. During the holidays it has become traditional--a disgusting tradition, where a family, invariably, seems to get wiped out . . . by a drunk driver.”

In December, 1982, Barsumyan was convicted in Los Angeles of drunk driving and was sentenced to 36 months’ probation, Reiner pointed out.

The accident prompted firefighters and police officers in Glendale to launch a fund drive for the orphaned siblings, who survived the crash.

A trust account for the children was opened Tuesday at Glendale Federal Savings and, by Wednesday afternoon, $4,432 had been deposited, said Juliet Lobo, customer service officer for the savings and loan, which is collecting donations at all of its Southern California offices.

The money will go toward medical and rehabilitation costs for the children and for their education, fire officials said.

“It was probably one of the worst accidents we’ve been on,” said Fire Capt. Gerry Miller. “A lot of the firemen have children and it hit home with a lot of them.”

The crash occurred at 8:25 p.m. Saturday at Los Feliz Road and Central Avenue, about 30 minutes before a police sobriety checkpoint was set up several blocks away.

Police said Barsumyan was driving east on Los Feliz, when his 1974 Oldsmobile hit a dip in the road, became airborne and crashed head-on into the west-bound 1979 Ford driven by Francisco Cruz. Cruz’s car flipped and landed on its side on a sidewalk.

Witnesses told investigators that before the collision, Barsumyan’s car was weaving through traffic at high speed, Police Sgt. Dean Durand said.

“When the impact took place, his speedometer locked in at between 75 and 80 m.p.h.,” Durand said. “It knocked the second vehicle back about 75 to 80 feet.”

Francisco and Olga Cruz were killed instantly. Hernandez died at Glendale Memorial Hospital.

The Cruz children were ejected from the car. Both were taken to Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles. Brenda suffered a broken pelvis, two broken legs and internal injuries. Byron was treated for injuries to his spleen and for a lacerated finger.

The children were listed in stable condition Wednesday in the hospital intensive care ward, hospital spokeswoman Susan Reeder said.

Barsumyan was also charged Wednesday with three counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, two counts of felony driving under the influence causing bodily injury and two counts of felony driving with an excessive blood alcohol level causing bodily injury, prosecutors said.

The percentage of alcohol in his blood was 0.19, Reiner said. California law presumes a motorist is intoxicated at 0.10.

Prosecutors said a jury could find Barsumyan guilty only of second-degree murder, manslaughter, or other lesser charges.