COUNTYWIDE : Injuries Fatal to 3 in Traffic Accidents

Three people died early Sunday of injuries suffered in separate traffic accidents.

The first accident happened at 11:18 p.m. Saturday in Buena Park when a teen-ager ran across Beach Boulevard near Knott’s Berry Farm and was struck by a car traveling north, Buena Park police said.

The victim, an Upland boy whose name was not released pending notification of relatives, was pronounced dead at 12:02 a.m. Sunday at West Humana Hospital in Anaheim. Police say he was 15 or 16. The driver of the car was not injured. Buena Park police said the driver was not at fault because the boy had run into the car’s path.

“The driver did not have time to apply brakes,” said Buena Park dispatcher Phil Grisotti.

The second accident occurred at 2:13 a.m. Sunday in Costa Mesa when a car collided with a pickup truck on Sunflower Avenue near Sakioka Drive.

The driver of the pickup, Michael Anthony Cantu, 26, of Orange, died while firefighters tried to extricate him from the wreckage, said Police Sgt. Karl Schuler. The driver of the car, Hoa Ngoc Tran, 27, of Santa Ana, escaped serious injury but was booked into Costa Mesa City Jail on suspicion of felony drunk driving.

Schuler said the impact of the collision forced Tran’s car over the center divider and caused Cantu’s truck to overturn.

The third accident was reported at 5:50 a.m. in Irvine when a car driven by an unidentified woman in her mid-20s swerved out of control on the southbound San Diego Freeway near Sand Canyon Avenue and struck a guardrail in the center median, California Highway Patrol officials reported.

The woman, whose name was not immediately known, died at the scene. A passenger, Alex Villanueva, 20, of Torrance, suffered head injuries. He was listed in satisfactory condition Sunday at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo.