LOCAL : Girl Loses Arm in Capistrano Crash

A 14-year-old girl’s left forearm was amputated this morning after a car she was riding in crashed into the center divider and rolled on the Santa Ana Freeway in Capistrano Beach, authorities said.

The girl, whose name was withheld because of her age, was with four other teen-agers, including an unlicensed 16-year-old boy who was driving, when the accident occurred about 12:25 a.m. north of Pacific Coast Highway, California Highway Patrolman Ken Daily said.

Daily said the Dodge was traveling about 70 m.p.h. when the driver lost control of the car and crashed. After the accident, he and two other boys 16 fled, leaving the injured girl and another girl, also 14, in the wreck. The two girls, who may have been sitting in the back seat, were not wearing seat belts, Daily said.

Paramedics amputated the girl’s arm at the scene. A spokeswoman at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center said she was in serious but stable condition.

About 4 a.m., the three boys arrived at San Clemente Hospital, where police arrested them. Daily said police would seek felony hit-and-run charges against the driver for leaving the scene of the accident. The others were released to their parents.