Officer Killed in Fiery Crash

A 29-year-old Seal Beach police officer was killed and four other people were injured Tuesday night in a fiery, three-vehicle accident that closed the intersection of Seal Beach Boulevard and Westminster Avenue.

California Highway Patrol officers who happened on the scene moments after the accident found the officer trapped in his black-and-white Ford Mustang, which was on fire, according to CHP spokeswoman Leslie Hill.

The officers, who had been on their way to shooting practice at the nearby Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station, were unable to remove the Seal Beach patrolman. But paramedics who arrived moments later managed to cut him from the vehicle just before it was engulfed in flames on the road just north of the Seal Beach Police Station, Hill said.

All of those involved in the crash were transported to Memorial Medical Center of Long Beach, where the officer was pronounced dead. The officer, a three-year veteran of the police force whose name was withheld pending notification of relatives, was on duty and was driving a marked police car at the time of the crash, Seal Beach Police Detective Jay Leonard said.

The injured were identified as Kathy Bell, 18, of Rossmoor, who suffered facial cuts and trauma to the head; Stuart Kepler, 21, of Long Beach, who was treated for facial cuts and bruises; Jon Borbon, 20, of Los Alamitos, who was treated for trauma to the head and neck pains, and Kathy Zepeda, 33, of Surfside, who suffered facial cuts and scrapes. Bell was listed in fair condition and Kepler, Borbon and Zepeda all were in good condition, hospital spokesman Richard Cox said.

Officer Hill said the first word of the accident came from an unidentified citizen who reported the crash on the 911 emergency line.

The blaze was quickly extinguished by Orange County Fire Department firefighters.