Driver Held After Crash in Drag-Race Kills 2, Injures 3 : Pacoima: One of the speeding Camaros slams into two oncoming vehicles. Police are still looking for the person who was driving the other.

A driver who police said was drag-racing through Pacoima was arrested on suspicion of murder after he lost control of his speeding car and slammed into two oncoming cars, leaving two people dead and three injured, Los Angeles police said Tuesday.

Police were attempting to identify and locate the driver of the other car involved in the race that ended in the fatal accident at 9 p.m. Monday at the intersection of Arleta Avenue and Filmore Street.

Arturo Aguilar Miranda, 25, of Pacoima was arrested on suspicion of vehicular murder and was being held without bail in the jail ward of the County-USC Medical Center, police said. He was being treated for a broken leg and other injuries from the crash.

Killed in the accident were Pedro Coronel, 45, of Pacoima who was Miranda’s passenger, and Tom Fujimoto, 61, of Sepulveda, who was a passenger in a car driven by Frank Tanaka, 60, of Mission Hills.

Tanaka and the driver of the other car, Maria Ruelas, 34, of Arleta were being treated for moderate injuries at Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Panorama City.

The accident occurred when Miranda and another man, both driving red Camaros, tried to outrun each other while driving east on Devonshire Street near Arleta Avenue, police said.

It was unclear if the meeting of the two cars was coincidental--possibly at a nearby traffic signal--or the two men planned the race. In any case, “it was definitely drag-racing,” Detective Don Bellante said. Police said that stretch of road is not known as a frequent drag-racing spot.

Witnesses told police the two cars were speeding about 80 m.p.h. for several blocks before going into the curve where Devonshire Street becomes Arleta Avenue and turns south, Bellante said.

“There is a gradual curve there, and with that kind of speed it doesn’t take long before somebody loses it,” Bellante said.

The witnesses said Miranda’s Camaro sped along the inside lane and went up on its two left wheels before veering into the opposite lane and smashing into an oncoming Toyota driven by Tanaka and then a Datsun driven by Ruelas. Ruelas’ car overturned after being struck. The other Camaro did not stop, and police had not found it by Tuesday afternoon, Bellante said.