Teenage Driver Killed in Crash on Bridge

A 17-year-old driver was killed on the Gerald Desmond Bridge about midnight Friday after he lost control of his vehicle. Witnesses reported that the driver was involved in a car race at the time of the accident, police said.

Siquen Martinez was pronounced dead at the scene after he was thrown from his car, said Karen Owens, a Long Beach police spokeswoman

A witness told police she saw Martinez and two men in another vehicle driving side by side at 80 mph to 90 mph in the westbound lanes of the bridge, Owens said. As they came up behind the witness’ car, the second car switched lanes and followed Martinez’s car, she said.

Martinez lost control of his car, fishtailed, hit a light pole on the side of the road and careened sideways into the guardrail, Owens said. The force of the crash split the car in two, throwing Martinez from the vehicle.

Martinez landed in the slow lane of the bridge while his car continued sliding down the guardrail, through a chain-link fence and then plunged over the bridge onto an exit ramp about 10 feet below, Owens said.

Police are not sure if the second car, which did not stop after the accident, made contact with Martinez’s car.