Driver in Fatal Crash Had Just Stolen Car, Police Say

A wrong-way driver who killed himself and four others in a fiery Long Beach crash was using a car he had just stolen from his mother when he plowed head-on into a family, police said Monday.

Chanvatana (Scott) Soth, a 21-year-old security guard, is also suspected of burglarizing his mother’s home hours before the Saturday night crash.

Long Beach police said he apparently panicked at the sight of a patrol car and, in speeding away, went down the wrong side of Spring Street for a mile. He smashed into a gray Daihatsu carrying a woman, two of her daughters and her son--part of a family that fled war-torn Lebanon a decade ago. All were killed on impact.

Authorities do not know if Soth had alcohol or drugs in his system. They said blood tests should be completed this week.

“There’s a good possibility that he just panicked and ran from police, believing they would know the car was stolen,” police spokeswoman Karen Kerr said.

Soth’s driving was so reckless that police had theorized that he might have been trying to kill himself.

Investigators have since discovered that Soth broke into his mother’s Long Beach home Saturday afternoon, ransacked the house and stole a television, VCR and stereo, Kerr said. Soth then went to a friend’s house, where his mother was visiting, and took her car.

He pawned the goods at a pawn shop that same afternoon, Kerr said.

About 9 p.m., he was at Palo Verde Avenue, waiting to turn left onto Spring Street when a patrol car pulled into the next lane. Soth then turned onto Spring Street, speeding west into the eastbound lanes.

According to the police re-creation, officers in the patrol car attempted to pull Soth over but were forced to stop at a red light. They then radioed to headquarters for permission to pursue his car, as is department policy. Permission was granted, but Soth continued on at speeds up to 75 m.p.h. through two more intersections, passing up several opportunities to cross back to the correct side of the road.

Hannan Helou, 42, and three of her children--Dorine, 18, Doris, 16, and Ghaleb, 15--were crossing Bellflower Boulevard in their car when Soth slammed into it. Police arrived on the scene just after impact, Kerr said.

Hannan Helou’s brother, Tony Alanouf, said the tragedy has shattered the remaining members of the immigrant family.

With their four children, Hannan and Phillip Helou had moved from Lebanon and settled in Signal Hill, supporting the family by running a restaurant in Long Beach. The children helped out every day after school, Alanouf said.

After their restaurant’s windows were broken during last year’s riots, the Helous moved the business to Carson Street, near Lakewood Boulevard.

The restaurant, Cedar Fast Foods, was open until about 8 p.m. Saturday. Hannan Helou and three of the children had cleaned up and were going home when the accident occurred.

“This is tearing the whole family apart,” Alanouf said. “I don’t know what we’re going to do. There’s no way he (Phillip Helou) can go back there now. It’s too depressing.”

According to court records, Soth did not have a criminal record. His only traffic violation occurred two years ago, when he was ticketed for not wearing a seat belt, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Soth worked as a guard for Burns Security, where he watched over the parking lot of a Bally’s Holiday Health Spa in Long Beach. Burns Security had no comment.