Gasoline Tank Explodes : Woman Badly Burned in Crash With Suspect

A 20-year-old woman was critically injured Wednesday when a suspect fleeing police in Huntington Beach rear-ended her car, causing the gasoline tank to explode.

Krystin Olson of Huntington Beach was rushed to the UCI Medical Center burn unit with second- and third-degree burns over 50% her body, police said.

Matthew Shergalis, 28, of Newport Beach was arrested at the scene after allegedly trying to escape on foot.

The incident occurred about 2:30 a.m. after Newport Beach police tried to stop a pickup truck driver who had allegedly run a red light on Pacific Coast Highway at Superior Avenue.

The driver acted erratically, slowing and then speeding, and at one point stopping near Brookhurst Avenue, Newport Beach Police Lt. Tim Newman said.

When the officer ordered Shergalis to get out, he instead thrust a Bible out of the driver’s window, held it aloft for about 30 seconds and then sped off again, Newman said.

Shergalis drove north on Beach Boulevard at about 75 m.p.h. and crashed into Olson’s car near Holland Street, police said. He ran, but was caught at Beach Boulevard and Warner Avenue after what police described as a “violent struggle” involving at least four officers.

Officers used police dogs to finally subdue him.

At the same time, other officers from the Huntington Beach and Newport Beach police departments broke the driver’s window on Olson’s Chevrolet Chevette and pulled her out as the car was engulfed in flames. Olson was burned from the back of her neck to her upper thigh, police said.

Shergalis was treated at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach for dog bites on the shoulder and calf. The officers suffered minor scrapes, and their uniforms were torn, Newman said.

Shergalis’s mother, who declined to give her first name, said her son suffers from panic attacks and has been under psychiatric care for about a year. She said Shergalis was taking medication for the condition but had never been in trouble with authorities before.

“I’m sure he had one of his problems and just got scared to death,” she said. “I just hope the young woman gets better and that my son gets better without being destroyed by this.”

Shergalis was arrested on suspicion of felony hit-and-run driving and evading arrest and was being held in Orange County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail

He is scheduled to be arraigned in Municipal Court in Westminster today.