4 Injured in Suspected ‘Freeway Tag’ Crash

Four teenagers suspected of racing on the Simi Valley Freeway escaped with their lives Monday after their car struck the center divider, rolled three times and landed on the Topanga Canyon onramp.

Anna Kristin Tan Poco, 18, was arrested on suspicion of reckless driving and was in serious but stable condition at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, California Highway Patrol Officer Matt Rominger said.

The passengers, Nick Parnello, 18, his 17-year-old brother and a girl, also 17, were in stable condition, Rominger said.

The youths, all from Simi Valley, were traveling eastbound near 100 mph as they raced a black, late-model Honda Prelude, witnesses told the CHP. The Prelude continued down the freeway as Tan Poco’s Honda Intrepid spun out of control.

Rominger said the driver of the Prelude was only identified as a female and apparently did not know the occupants of the other car.

“They got into a contest of cutting each other off,” Rominger said. “They were playing freeway tag.”

Firefighters had to free Tan Poco from the wreckage of the 3 p.m. accident, said Los Angeles City Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey. The onramp and right lane of the freeway were briefly closed. Parnello and his brother were taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center and the 17-year-old girl to Granada Hills Community Hospital.