Driver to Stand Trial in 2-Fatality Car Wreck
A 22-year-old man involved in a fatal car accident in June was ordered to stand trial Wednesday on two counts of murder, police said. Scott Alden Whitson of Orange reportedly sped through a red light and plowed into another car at Ward Street and Slater Avenue in Fountain Valley while trying to escape police.
The crash killed his passenger, Derick Romo, 26, of Moreno Valley, and the driver of the other car, Janice Diehm, 46, of Fountain Valley. Three other people were injured, including Whitson.
Whitson was going 77 m.p.h. at the time of the accident, Fountain Valley Sgt. Larry Griswold said.
A Costa Mesa motorcycle traffic officer had spotted Whitson driving his Volkswagen with its lights off in a closed commercial complex at Harbor and MacArthur boulevards a few minutes before the collision.
The officer chased the vehicle and saw it run several red lights at speeds of more than 80 m.p.h. before losing track of it, Griswold said.
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