3 Teens Killed by Fleeing Suspect : Tragedy: Motorist runs a red light and broadsides their car in Van Nuys. Police say officers were following half a mile behind to reduce danger.

In a horrific crash that once again spotlighted the risks of police chases, three teen-age boys were killed in Van Nuys Tuesday when their car was broadsided by a burglary suspect who ran a red light while fleeing Los Angeles police.

Manuel Osorio, 18, and Fernando Osorio, 16, brothers from Arleta, and their friend Rafael Camargo Dawe, 17, of Van Nuys, died in the 2:15 a.m. crash.

The burglary suspect, an unidentified 28-year-old man, was booked on suspicion of murder at County-USC Medical Center, where he was in serious but stable condition, police said.

“Whatever the burglary was worth, it wasn’t worth a human life,” the Osorio boys’ mother, Ramona Osorio, said.

Officers said the suspect had been seen trying to break into a diner in the adjacent community of Sherman Oaks, prompting the high-speed chase on Kester Avenue that ended in the crash.

Police Cmdr. Tim McBride said the black-and-white patrol car pursuing the burglary suspect in Van Nuys had backed off when it became obvious that there was traffic in the area, and was half a mile behind the suspect when the crash occurred. The suspect’s car was under observation by a police helicopter that had shined a spotlight on the intersection in an attempt to warn motorists.

“It appears at this stage that the officers did everything we could ask of them,” McBride said. “But everything is subject to review.”

McBride, who was called to the scene, said he met there with Ramona Osorio.

“I consoled her, we held hands, she cried,” he said. “I almost cried.”

The Honda Civic in which the three teen-agers were driving was mangled so severely that it took rescue workers hours to free the bodies.

Police said they are acutely aware of the danger posed to officers, other motorists and bystanders in any officer-involved pursuit.

Increasingly, McBride said, officers start--but then stop--a pursuit after recognizing the risk. That happened more than 100 times last year, he said.

“No pursuit is worth the loss of three children,” McBride said. “But you don’t know. You start chasing somebody . . . and at 2 o’clock in the morning and on nearly empty streets, you don’t expect this kind of result.”

At 2:10 a.m., according to police, Officers Rodney Genter and Gustavo Camacho saw someone throw a 2-by-4 through a window at Mel’s Drive-In in the 14800 block of Ventura Boulevard.

The suspect saw the officers, ran to his car and sped away, heading north on Kester, police said.

The two officers--Genter with 24 years experience, Camacho with one year--gave chase. A helicopter joined the pursuit.

At the intersection of Sherman Way and Kester, the suspect--who was driving a red Toyota--went through the red light, police said. The Toyota, traveling 60 to 70 m.p.h., smacked into the white Honda carrying the three teen-agers.

The impact carried both vehicles about 100 feet north of the intersection. Debris was scattered 100 feet in several directions.

The teen-agers were killed on impact, authorities said.

The police helicopter pilot monitoring the chase warned the officers in the car of oncoming traffic, so the officers dropped back, McBride said.

Manuel Osorio was driving, with his brother in the back seat and Dawe in the front passenger seat. Manuel Osorio and Dawe were wearing seat belts, McBride said.

“Had this suspect taken any evasive action, had he hit the front end of the car, the rear end, anything but the center of this car, there’s a very good chance these kids would have survived,” McBride said.

Family and friends of the three teen-agers said they were on their way to Dawe’s apartment, just a block away, when the car was hit.

Relatives struggled Tuesday to comprehend their deaths. A cousin--who declined to give his name--said the Osorio brothers “were like a pair of earrings. You take one off, you take the other one off. That’s probably how God wanted them.”

Fernando Osorio was a student at Van Nuys High School, and school records show that Manuel attended until December. Dawe, who attended an alternative school in Van Nuys called New Directions for Youth, was a good student who was trying to overcome past problems, school officials said. They said he recently began working at Six Flags Magic Mountain and was planning to finish school and go to a junior college.

“That’s what is so tragic about this,” said Beatrice Echaveste, Dawe’s teacher since he enrolled in January. “Here’s a kid who started to make some good choices. And then this happens.”