3 Killed, 4 Injured in Drag-Racing Crashes : Traffic: The two accidents occur 15 minutes apart in Inglewood.

Three men died and four others were injured, three critically, in two apparently unrelated incidents of illegal racing in Inglewood, police said Tuesday.

Bruce Anderson, 23, Timothy T. Morris, 24, and Mirales Bernall, 23, died in crashes that occurred half a mile and 15 minutes apart Monday night, officials said.

Witnesses told police that Anderson and Morris were racing with one or two other cars on Crenshaw Boulevard near 108th Street at 10:27 p.m. when the Mazda RX-7 in which they were traveling spun out of control and hit a tree.

“The car seemed to flip about five times, and then it hit the tree and broke into pieces,” said Kenny Davis, who saw the accident after leaving a friend’s house a block from the crash. Both men were thrown from the car and pronounced dead at the scene.

About 15 minutes later, police were called to Imperial Highway where Bernall and his passenger, Sandy Rodriquez, 22, were thrown from a Chevrolet Camaro Z-28 after crossing into the opposite traffic lane and hitting a Cadillac sedan head-on.

Officials said the Camaro appeared to be drag-racing with another vehicle when the driver saw a taxicab that was turning left and veered into the opposite lane. Lt. Harold Moret said beer containers were found in the Camaro.

Rodriquez and two other passengers, Marco Bernall, 21, and Ismael Ramirez, 21, were critically injured and taken to area hospitals. The driver of the sedan, George Davlantis, also was hurt, police said.

Area residents say motorists regularly drive fast on Crenshaw and Imperial.

“They don’t do a lot of drag-racing here, but people are always speeding,” said Kim Benjamin, who lives on Crenshaw about 100 feet from where the Mazda crashed. “I’ve lived here eight years and I have seen all kinds of accidents.”

Keisha Martin, who lives in the same apartment complex as Benjamin, said she has seen people traveling the wrong way down one-way streets as well as speeding.

“The speed limit is 40 and you tell people to do 40 and they do 50, tell them 55 and they do 65,” she said. “Something needs to be done.”

Moret said Crenshaw is a popular spot for speeding because it is a wide, smooth road.

An Inglewood resident who asked to be identified as “Little D” said speeding to outrun another motorist “happens all the time.

“Somebody rolls up on you and guns their engine and it’s on,” he said. “Everybody does it.”

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Deadly Crashes Three men were killed and four people were injured in separate drag-racing crashes half a mile apart in Inglewood, police said.