2 Killed, 1 Badly Hurt as Cars Collide in Police Chase

Two men died and a woman was critically injured when a high-speed police chase ended Sunday in Huntington Beach in an explosive, three-car collision that sent one car rolling over three times and left car parts scattered over several hundred feet.

The victims included Ernesto Magdaleno, 32, of Westminster, a nationally ranked boxer who was considered a contender for the World Boxing Council’s light-heavyweight title. Magdaleno’s whose wife and two children were in the car with him when it was hit by a white 1994 Ford Escort at the intersection of Edinger Avenue and Newland Street, police said.

Magdaleno was thrown from his Jeep Cherokee and landed on a median strip in the center of Edinger, striking his head on the curb, said Huntington Beach Police Officer Robert Barr. His wife and children were taken to local hospitals with minor injuries, Barr said.

The other victims were suspects in an attempted robbery at a service station 2 1/2 miles away in Fountain Valley, where they were accused of trying to steal camera equipment from a man and hitting him with their car as they fled. Police chased the couple at speeds up to 100 mph, officials said.

The Escort’s driver, who died in the crash, was identified as John Kenneth Bandola Jr., 19, of Cypress. The woman, whose name was not released, is believed to be a 20-year-old Huntington Beach resident. She was reported in critical condition at UC Irvine Medical Center.

The chase began after Fountain Valley police received a call from a man who said he was putting air in the tires of his van at a gas station at Warner and Brookhurst avenues when he saw a woman reach into the van and grab camera equipment, said Lt. Larry Griswold of the Fountain Valley Police Department.

The man retrieved his camera gear from the woman as she climbed into the Escort, then he walked to the back of the car to get its license number, Griswold said. The Escort then lurched backward--striking him but not injuring him--and sped away.

Fountain Valley police spotted the car, with Bandola driving, heading west on Warner Avenue a few blocks from the service station. They chased him along several main streets through a shopping district and residential neighborhoods in suburban Orange County.

Then, Bandola sped through a red light and crashed into the side of Magdaleno’s car, which was heading south on Newland. Magdaleno’s Jeep hit the side of a car that was stopped on Edinger, waiting to turn left, Barr said. Neither the driver nor passenger in that car were injured.

The crash left witnesses shaken.

Carol Whaley of Huntington Beach said she saw a woman spring from the crumpled Jeep and scream for help as she knelt beside Magdaleno, who lay in the intersection.

“She was over him hollering, ‘Help! We need help!’ ” Whaley said. “She was cradling him and he was laying in the street.”

Whaley said the Ford Escort narrowly missed her car as it tumbled by after the collision. The car rolled over at least three times before coming to rest on the sidewalk, about 150 feet west of the intersection, she said.

Griswold said the accident and the chase will be investigated, but there is no evidence of police impropriety. Barr and other officers said the pursuing squad car left no skid marks, indicating it was following the Escort at a safe distance.