2 Drivers Arrested in Collision That Killed 4 in Family : Freeways: Marco A. Corral, 22, of Venice, and a Glassell Park youth are held on felony vehicular manslaughter charges.

CHP officers Thursday arrested two drivers they say caused the traffic crash that killed four members of a Gardena family by racing in and out of San Diego Freeway traffic at more than 100 m.p.h.

Marco Antonio Corral, 22, of Venice, and a 17-year-old Glassell Park youth turned themselves in to the CHP station in Woodland Hills, CHP officials said, and were being held on charges of felony vehicular manslaughter. Corral was also charged with felony hit-and-run, accused of leaving the scene of the fiery crash without giving his name to police officers.

“Using our roadways as a racetrack will not be tolerated,” CHP Southern Division Chief Edward W. Gomez said in announcing the arrests.

Corral’s brother, Giovanni, 21, who said he was in the car at the time of the Sunday night crash on the San Diego Freeway near Roscoe Boulevard in Van Nuys, denied his brother was speeding and said they had stopped and talked to a police officer before leaving the scene of the accident.

“We were there a half-hour, 45 minutes,” said Giovanni Corral, speaking outside the CHP office in Woodland Hills before officers held a news conference to announce the arrests.

He and his brother tried to rescue the four members of the Davalos family, he added, and finally left because they were upset over the tragedy and because there were plenty of other people on the scene. “It was horrible to see people get burned,” he said.

Gomez said witnesses told police the Corral brothers stayed at the scene for 10 or 15 minutes. But, he said, Marco Corral was charged with hit-and-run because he left without providing information to police.

The 17-year-old was questioned at length at the scene and released, pending further investigation. He also turned himself in when asked, Mader said.

The arrests came four days after the accident and after considerable protests--including a complaint by Mexico’s consul general in Los Angeles--over the release of the teen-ager, who police say directly caused the crash. But the CHP firmly declared all week that more time was needed for the investigation and that charges could be filed as the investigation progressed.

The teen-ager and Corral were allegedly playing a high-speed game of “cat-and-mouse” when the youth lost control of his Toyota Camry, crashed into the median and then cut back across traffic in front of a car driven by David Davalos.

Davalos, 28, his wife, Norma, 26, their 16-month-old baby Maritza and David’s sister, Roberta, 20, were returning to their home in Gardena from a visit to David’s parents in Central California, relatives said. When David swerved to avoid the careening car, the Accord he was driving hit the median, rolled over and slid across the freeway into a temporary wall and burst into flames, authorities said.

The heat of the fire prevented any rescue attempt, and all four perished.

As Giovanni Corral protested his brother’s arrest Thursday evening, CHP officials said there were some 10 witnesses who had reported that the two cars were indeed speeding. Some had provided the license plate number of Corral’s red Toyota Celica, they said.

“We have a lot of independent witnesses to the incident,” said Capt. Peter A. Mader, commander of the West Valley CHP office. “We would say that (Giovanni Corral’s claim) is not true.”