Teen Pinned in Crash Dies in His Sports Car : Accident: Police say that the 18-year-old victim from Villa Park and another driver might have been drag-racing.

A Villa Park teen-ager who lost control of his vehicle while apparently drag-racing died Friday while paramedics and firefighters worked more than three hours to free him from his mangled sports car, police said Saturday.

The Orange County coroner’s office identified the dead man as Edward Wu, 18. Officers said he died inside his Toyota MR-2 at 8 p.m.

The accident occurred at 6:45 p.m. on Serrano Avenue, a quarter-mile east of Loma Street in a semirural area near the border of Orange and Villa Park.

Two cars were racing east side-by-side, going more than 70 m.p.h., with Wu’s car reportedly in the wrong lane as if he were trying to pass. At the same time, an oncoming Sheriff’s Department patrol car swerved to miss him, police said. The patrol car, which was on an unrelated call, was forced off the road and into a dirt mound. The sheriff’s deputy was not injured.

Meanwhile, Wu’s car swerved sideways off the road, smashing into a tree.

“The tree was knocked down, and the Toyota was wrapped around the tree and was totally destroyed,” Orange Police Lt. Trey Sirks said. “That wreckage was totally unbelievable. Our paramedics arrived on the scene real fast and started to try and extricate him. He was unconscious, thank God, and they used everything they had.”

Orange Police Sgt. Milt Galbraith said investigators were trying to find the other driver involved in the race who fled after the accident. The other car was described as a white sports car. If apprehended, Galbraith said, the driver could be charged with felony hit and run.