Survivor of Fatal Crash in Coma : Accident: Garden Grove woman, 18, was in back seat when car was cut in half and three friends were killed. Driver might be charged, police say.

An 18-year-old Garden Grove woman was in a coma Monday, after surviving a weekend crash that claimed the lives of three friends.

Duyen Nguyen suffered serious head injuries and broken bones during the crash that occurred early Sunday in Westminster, when the car in which she and four others were riding skidded out of control at an intersection and slammed into a traffic signal standard, police said.

Nguyen remained in critical condition at UCI Medical Center in Orange, a hospital spokesperson said Monday night.

“They don’t know how long she’s going to be in a coma,” said Lynn Do, Nguyen’s mother, in the waiting room of the intensive care unit. “It could be one day, one week or one year. But I’m going to wait here until she wakes up.”

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Westminster police officials said Monday they are continuing to investigate the crash and may seek criminal charges against the 22-year-old driver of the car. Hoang Kim Hoang of Midway City was driving about 85 m.p.h. when the car smashed into the pole near Trask Avenue and Hoover Street, police said.

Hoang, who survived with minor injuries thanks to a seat belt and a driver’s-side air bag, told police that he and his friends were trying to flee from a Stanton dance studio, where gunshots were fired.

“If there is no information whatsoever that can back up his story that he was in fear of his life, there could very well be formal presentation of charges,” Sgt. Rick McKinney said.

“But if there is information that shots were fired and people said they got the hell out of there, it would minimize the possibility of criminal charges, but not for civil violations.”

Orange County Sheriff’s Department officials said that minutes before the crash, which occurred at 12:20 a.m. Sunday, a caller in Stanton reported hearing gunshots just half a mile from the site of the crash.

A caller reported hearing several gunshots near a shopping center close to Hoover Street and Newdale Way about 12:20 a.m., Lt. Jay Mendez said. The shopping center houses a dance studio where the group of young people had been before the accident.

But Mendez said deputies found no evidence of gunshots in the neighborhood.

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In Sunday’s crash, Saythong Thomgprachanh, 20, of Worthington, Minn. and Stephanie Le, 20, of Highland, both seated in the back, were thrown from the car and killed instantly. Dung Bui, 21, of Irvine, seated in the front passenger seat, died at the scene.

Nguyen, who was sitting in the back seat, graduated from La Quinta High School in Westminster and was to enter Orange Coast College this fall, family members said. She had four brothers and three sisters and hoped to become a flight attendant.

“She rarely went out, but this time, she decided to go,” said Paul Le, her cousin. “This was just a terrible, terrible accident.”