Four Killed in High-Speed Car Crash After Market Robbery

A getaway car going 90 miles an hour smashed into a light pole after a holdup Friday, killing four men inside and hurling the engine 150 feet away, authorities said.

“The car pretty much came apart,” said police Lt. Charley Heitz. “The whole thing pretty much disintegrated.”

The four armed men held up the New Delhi Market about 11 a.m., wounding the store’s owner and a worker before fleeing in a car, according to police.

The four alleged robbers died at a Hayward intersection where the Buick Skylark slammed into a pole. A fifth person--a woman who was driving the car--suffered major injuries, Heitz said.

Heitz said evidence in the car, including money and a gun, linked the crash victims to the market robbery. The two victims of the robbery were expected to recover, he said.

The Buick also struck a postal truck, injuring driver Ruben Tellez, 44, of Hayward, who was treated at a hospital and released, Heitz said.

Names of the dead have not been released.

“This wasn’t even a chase,” said Heitz. “We had no control over how fast this person was going.”

A police car was about 300 yards behind the fleeing vehicle at the time of the collision.

“The car went straight into the pole like a pancake and didn’t move, but the front end kept moving,” said witness Curt Peterson. “The crash literally tore it in half.”