LOCAL : Santa Ana Man Killed, Wife Hurt as Fleeing Teen-Ager Rams Car

A Santa Ana man was killed and his wife critically injured early today when a 15-year-old wrong-way driver crashed into the couple’s car as the teen-ager tried to elude pursuing police, authorities said.

The teen-ager, who was not identified because of age, was traveling north in the southbound lanes of Fairview Street at an estimated 80 m.p.h. in a stolen, four-wheel-drive pickup truck, said Santa Ana Police Lt. Robert Helton.

He smashed broadside into the couple’s car, which was heading west on 1st Street. The truck struck with such force that both the man and women were thrown from their car. Neither was identified by police pending notification of relatives.

Helton said the incident began about 3:45 a.m. when a police officer noticed the pickup truck being driven erratically while headed west on McFadden Avenue, near Raitt Street. When the young driver apparently saw the officer behind him, he abruptly turned into a shopping center and then headed north on Fairview Street.

To further evade the officer, the youth turned into the oncoming southbound traffic lanes and speeded up. The officer, Helton said, remained in the northbound lanes as the pickup ran a red light at 1st Street and struck the car.

The 32-year-old driver of the car was pronounced dead at United Western Medical Center about two hours after the crash. The 33-year-old woman was in critical condition at UCI Medical Center.

The Santa Ana youth received only a minor cut on his head in the crash. He was taken to Juvenile Hall where he was booked on suspicion of murder, grand theft auto, possession of stolen property and evading a police officer.

The pickup had been stolen from Huntington Beach recently, he said.