A Friend Recalls the Instant That Silenced 2 Young Lives : Deaths: Juan Melendrez, 16, was in the back seat when a speeding pickup truck hit the car, killing his friends Aracely and Uriel.

Three friends, filled with the hope of youth, were on their way home from a football game when the undiscriminating hand of gang violence intervened.

Two young lives--those of a cheerleader and a star pitcher--ended in an instant at a Mission Hills intersection; the life of a third was changed forever as he watched two friends die after a motorist fleeing police smashed into their car.

Aracely Hernandez, 18, of San Fernando and Uriel Fernandez, 16, of Pacoima died in the 9:10 p.m. crash Friday. Juan Melendrez, 16, who sat behind Aracely on the passenger’s side of the car, suffered minor injuries.

On Sunday, Juan, his forehead dotted with cuts from flying glass, recounted the events that led up to the tragedy and tried to make sense out of the nonsensical.

He said the three were driving south on Laurel Canyon Boulevard toward a liquor store. The plan was to pick up some snacks, then Uriel would drop Juan off at his house and take Aracely home.

Uriel’s family said Sunday that they sensed a romance budding between the two sports fans. Aracely played varsity softball at Sylmar High School. Uriel pitched for San Fernando High School’s junior varsity team, but was promoted to the varsity squad about three weeks ago. He was a die-hard Dodgers fan, whose constant recitation of sports facts earned him the nickname “Mr. Computer.”

Aracely was also Uriel’s supervisor at a Magic Mountain fast-food restaurant, where Juan worked as well. Uriel had been scheduled to work Friday night, but Aracely had given him the night off so he could watch her play in a powder puff football game at Sylmar High. Her team won.

The night was ending early, Juan said, because Uriel was scheduled to take a college entrance exam Saturday morning. The youth had hopes of studying electrical engineering at UCLA or Stanford.

In an autobiography he had written as a class assignment that was due today, Uriel had written: “I want to have a good career and live a good life.”

Juan said that Aracely, a cheerleader, wanted to study business at Cal State Northridge, where she had already been admitted. She was to graduate from high school later this month.

Uriel was quiet, but friendly. Aracely, Juan said, was more outgoing. “She was nice to everybody,” Juan said. “She had a lot of friends.”

Uriel’s older brother, Edgar, 20, said his brother “was always happy. He was never down.”

The three young people had been talking and joking about work as they drove along Laurel Canyon, Juan remembered. Uriel stopped the car at a red light at Chatsworth Drive. The conversation had stalled and the trio sat in silence.

The light turned green. Uriel eased his father’s Buick into the intersection and Aracely started to say something. “She never finished,” Juan said.

A pickup truck driving west on Chatsworth raced through the red light and slammed into the driver’s side of the car.

“We didn’t even see the truck coming,” Juan said. “It’s like it came out of nowhere.”

He saw headlights and then watched the rear window shatter. He closed his eyes. Flying glass hit him on the forehead and right eyelid but he was not seriously injured.

He spent Saturday and Sunday recovering in his room at the family’s home in Pacoima. On his bedposts hung New York Yankees and California Angels baseball caps. Also a baseball fan, he and Uriel met last semester in a baseball class at school. The two had talked of going sometime to a Dodger game. He said they figured they had plenty of time.

He remembered that when he opened his eyes after the crash, he saw two men running from the pickup. “I tried to get out of the car and chase them, but I was stuck between the seats and I couldn’t move,” he said.

Ray Vargas Servin, 21, of Palmdale was arrested minutes later a short distance away. He was being held without bail on suspicion of murder in Van Nuys Jail. A passenger in Servin’s car, Sergio Alvidrez, 28, of Canyon Country also fled. He was detained by police, but later released.

Police said Servin and Alvidrez were fleeing police after a gang-related shooting in Pacoima. Servin’s car was traveling between 55 m.p.h. and 60 m.p.h. in the minutes before the crash.

Then rescue workers came. Aracely was lying forward, her head on the dash, her hair matted with blood. Juan said rescue workers pulled her from the car. “I put my head down,” Juan said. “I didn’t want to see her.”

Rescue workers next pulled Uriel from the car. He was still alive, but died a short time later at San Fernando Community Hospital.

None of the teen-agers had any gang affiliation.

“It wasn’t our fault,” Juan said quietly, his voice cracking slightly. “We had nothing to do with it.”