Fiery O.C. Traffic Crash Kills 4; Trucker Is Held

Four people believed to have been on their way home to Stanton after a trip to Mexico were killed in a fiery crash at the El Toro Y early Wednesday as a semitrailer truck loaded with tomatoes plunged into a crowd of cars that had slowed to a crawl in a construction zone.

Police arrested the 34-year-old driver of the truck, identified as Leopoldo Nunez Sanchez of La Paz, Mexico, on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter. He was being held at Orange County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.

The nine-car crash at 12:15 a.m. strewed debris across the freeway and incinerated two vehicles.

The names of the victims were being withheld until the Orange County coroner’s office could confirm their identities by matching dental records supplied by the victims’ families. Investigators said, though, that they believed the victims were two adult couples returning to their homes in Stanton.

Three other people were injured, one critically, in the accident. The northbound lanes of the Santa Ana Freeway were closed for more than nine hours afterward.

Nunez was traveling at least 55 mph but should have seen the clogged traffic in time to slow down, said California Highway Patrol Officer Angel Johnson.

“He had indicated that he was cut off by another car, but no witness has corroborated that,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the crash left a scene of devastation.

“There was glass on the ground and cars all over the place,” she said. “A couple of people there were calling it a war zone. I got to the scene 30 minutes later and both cars [that had burned] were still smoking.”

The truck was registered in Chula Vista in San Diego County, under the name Felix Pozo, a resident of Tijuana, Johnson said. Pozo could not be reached for comment. Fernando Pozo, his son, referred questions to attorney John Everett of San Diego, who had just been hired by Felix Pozo’s insurance company and who declined comment until he learned more details of what had occurred.

The driver of the truck did not have a valid California driver’s license, Johnson said, adding that one is not needed to drive a truck in the state.

However, opponents of some of the provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which went into effect in December 1995, said the driver apparently was operating in violation of the regulations.

As approved, trucking provisions included in NAFTA ultimately would allow Mexican-licensed truck drivers full access to the United States. But President Clinton delayed implementing the trucking segment of NAFTA over concerns about the safety and environmental compliance of trucks and drivers licensed in Mexico. Under current rules, drivers licensed in Mexico are limited to driving within 25 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, scores of miles south of where Wednesday’s accident occurred.

Earlier this month, five U.S. senators from border states asked Clinton to drop his opposition and implement the trucking provisions. But on Wednesday, a letter signed by 201 members of Congress was released urging Clinton to continue the ban. Although the letter was not prompted by the crash, it cited safety concerns among reasons for limiting access.

“It’s unfortunate that it takes the tragic loss of four lives to serve as a wake-up call . . . that we cannot allow unsafe trucks and drivers from Mexico to have unlimited access to California highways as called for under NAFTA,” said Ron Carey, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which opposes the trucking provisions. “If NAFTA’s trucking provisions are implemented, thousands of trucks from Mexico will pour into California every day, and these ticking time bombs will claim even more innocent lives.”

The crash occurred just north of the overpass carrying traffic from Interstate 5 onto the northbound San Diego Freeway. Traffic on I-5 had slowed to a near standstill for a detour caused by construction of an overpass for the Eastern Transportation Corridor, said Transportation Corridor Agencies spokeswoman Lisa Telles.

The carpool lane was already closed at that point and traffic was being funneled from the left lane into the two remaining lanes, she said.

Johnson said Nunez was traveling in the right lane when he plowed into the backs of the merging vehicles, then crossed the median and ran into the southbound carpool lane. No southbound cars were involved in the accident.

The impact sparked a fire that engulfed a Ford Aerostar van holding the four who died, two men in the front and two women in the back. Also burned were the cabin of the truck Nunez was driving and a Volkswagen GTI being driven by Grant Orthmeyer, 24, of Irvine.

Orthmeyer, who was found outside his car in the aftermath of the crash, was listed in stable condition in the critical care unit at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana with a skull fracture, a broken nose and facial cuts.

“He can’t remember what happened,” said Orthmeyer’s mother, Deanna, who drove from the family’s residence in Poway, in northern San Diego County, immediately after hearing that her son had been injured. “He knows he was in an accident but just doesn’t remember much about it.”

Orthmeyer had arrived at his mother’s home about 8 p.m. Tuesday to do laundry and grab some camping gear before returning to UC Irvine, where he is a student. Orthmeyer, who is on spring break, had plans to camp for a week in Sequoia National Park after finishing his student job at the university.

“He was thrown out of his vehicle or someone had stopped to pull him out,” his mother said. “We don’t know how he got out of the car. We did hear that there may have been people who stopped and may have pulled him out. If so, I sure would like to thank them.”

Two other people were also injured in the crash. The CHP’s Johnson identified them as Neri Sao, 42, of Long Beach, who was treated for neck pain at Irvine Medical Center and released; and Esteban Ocampo Villanueva, 32, of Santa Ana, who was treated for cuts to the nose and forehead at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills and released.

Johnson said that when officers arrived at the scene the found Nunez, the truck driver, out of his vehicle and off the freeway, with an abrasion on his forearm. He was taken to Irvine Medical Center where he was treated and then arrested, Johnson said.

A section of the freeway will be closed for four hours some time today while investigators use electronic surveying equipment to inspect the scene, Johnson said. She did not know when the freeway would be closed.

The investigation could take several weeks to complete, she said.

Also contributing to this report was Times staff writer Lisa Richardson.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Accident Anatomy

Bridge construction on the northbound Santa Ana Freeway forced traffic off at Alton Parkway. As cars funneled into two lanes, traffic slowed, backing up to the El Toro Y. How Wednesday’s fatal crash occurred:

1. Big rig, traveling about 55 mph, slams into nearly stopped traffic

2. Crash triggers six-car pileup

3. Truck comes to rest in southbound carpool lane

Sources: California Highway Patrol, Caltrans

Researched by EMILY OTANI and SCOTT MARTELLE / Los Angeles Times