FULLERTON : Boy, 9, Killed, 2 Hurt in Sports Car Crash

A 9-year-old boy was killed and two teen-agers were critically injured Thursday night when their car hit a fire hydrant and then crashed into a light pole, authorities said.

The accident occurred at 6:37 p.m. at the intersection of Rolling Hills Drive and Brea Boulevard.

Fullerton police said the boy, whose name was not immediately available, was killed instantly.

The driver was identified as an 18-year-old man, and the second passenger as a 19-year-old woman, both of whom were rushed to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where they were listed in serious to critical condition late Thursday. Their identities also were not immediately available.

Police said none were wearing seat belts and that all three were crowded into the front of the two-seat vehicle.

Witnesses told police that the Pontiac Fiero, driven by the man, was traveling faster than 50 m.p.h. in a 35-m.p.h. zone.

“It hit a dip in the road,” Fullerton Police Sgt. Steve Matson said of the small, low-slung sports car. The vehicle “went end over end into a fire hydrant and then it collided with a light pole, splitting the car in half.”

It was not immediately known whether the people in the car lived in the area or were familiar with the abrupt dip in the road. “Everyone who lives around here knows about” the dip, Matson said.

As Fullerton paramedics used the jaws of life to get to the injured couple, water gushed from the fire hydrant.

The woman, who was sitting with the 9-year-old in the car’s passenger seat, was taken by helicopter to the medical center. She was listed in critical condition, Matson said.

The driver, who was taken by ambulance to the same hospital, was listed in serious condition.