Victims of 5-Car Pileup in South L.A. Identified

Authorities on Monday released the names of three people killed in a freak five-car pileup near the Coliseum in South Los Angeles Sunday.

Police said the pileup was caused by two separate collisions that occurred within seconds of each other about 6:30 p.m. Sunday in the 4000 block of South Normandie Avenue.

The dead were identified as Oscar Arguello, 32; Kevin Steward, 40; and Anabell Chavez, 29.

The first accident began when a 1990 Toyota pickup truck traveling northbound on Normandie swerved into southbound lanes, striking a 1971 GMC pickup, police said.

The GMC then collided with a 1994 Ford Mustang, which was also traveling in a southbound lane.

Arguello was driving the Toyota pickup and Chavez was a passenger. Steward was the driver of the GMC pickup.

Police said a 12-year-old passenger in the Toyota remained in stable condition Monday at Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital. The driver of the Mustang was not seriously injured.

A second collision followed the three-car crash by a few seconds, police said, when a 1985 Buick Regal, traveling northbound, swerved into the southbound lanes and struck a 1998 Mercury Sable, traveling south.

The six occupants of the Mercury were treated and released Sunday night from County-USC Medical Center, police said.

The Buick’s driver, 42-year-old Avery Johnson, was taken to Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital, where he remained in serious but stable condition.

“It is somewhat of a mystery to us how the cars lost control and ended up in southbound traffic in two separate collisions,” said Bill Whittaker, the detective in charge of the Los Angeles Police Department South Traffic Division.

“We are trying to find out what happened.”

Anyone who may have witnessed the accidents is asked to call the LAPD at (323) 290-6063 or, at night, (213) 485-2088.