Drug Use Is Suspected as Car Broadsides Van, Injuring 4

A Cypress man was arrested on suspicion of possession and driving under the influence of methamphetamine after a traffic accident that critically injured a 45-year-old woman and her two children, police said Sunday.

Steven Arndt, 35, was taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana after he ran a red light Saturday night at Moody Street and Orange Avenue and broadsided the woman’s van, said Police Sgt. David Birozy.

Cypress officers Tom Bruce and Matthew Timney, who were conducting an investigation at a business at the intersection, heard the collision and responded.

“They were doing some paperwork when they heard the accident and the 911 calls,” Birozy said. A fire had started in Arndt’s car, and the officers unbuckled his seat belt and pulled him to safety before flames engulfed the vehicle.

In the van they found Vicki Schwartz and her two children, a 6-year-old boy and 4-year-old girl, conscious but critically injured. Paramedics were called and the “jaws of life” were used to remove Schwartz from the wreckage.

Birozy said witnesses told officers they saw Arndt weaving around cars at speeds from 70 mph to 90 mph southbound on Moody.

As he neared the intersection at Orange, where traffic was stopped for a red light, Arndt “pulled into the bike lane, passing the stopped traffic” and plunged into the intersection, smashing into the left front side of the van, Birozy said.

Schwartz, who was wearing a seat belt, was taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana. Her son, whose name was withheld, was taken to Long Beach Memorial Trauma Center with critical head injuries. Her daughter, whose name also was withheld, was taken to the trauma center at UCI Medical Center in Orange with critical internal injuries.

Birozy said that Arndt, Schwartz and her son required emergency surgery and were listed in critical condition Sunday, as was the girl.

Arndt, who had no major traffic violations on his record, was under the influence of and in possession of methamphetamine, Birozy said. He is being held in lieu of a $10,000 bond.