Advertisement

Driver Arrested in Car Collision That Killed 4

Share
TIMES STAFF WRITERS

An 18-year-old high school senior was arrested Friday on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter in the deaths of four people, including three of his teenage passengers, in a high-speed, two-car crash in Santa Clarita.

Marcus Christian Lellan was being held at the Santa Clarita sheriff’s station after allegedly driving his white Acura over the center divider on Soledad Canyon Road and becoming airborne before landing upside down on the roof of a blue Mustang shortly after 8 p.m. Thursday.

Three of Lellan’s passengers--Dominic Whit Ianozzi, 16, and brothers Timothy Lee Renolds, 17, and Daniel Richard Renolds, 15--died instantly. Another passenger, Daniel Weber, 16, who was riding in the front seat, suffered negligible injuries. The boys were on their way home from the Valencia Town Center mall.

Advertisement

The Mustang’s driver, who also was killed, was identified as Rodney Adams, 45, of Santa Clarita.

Lellan and his four teenage friends attended Canyon High School. Students from the school and scores of parents showed up Thursday night at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia, where Lellan and Weber were taken after the crash. Rap music blared from the wreckage for hours after the accident.

On Friday, hundreds of people, mostly students, flocked to the accident scene to place flowers along the roadside and comfort one another. Students--some wearing thin white ribbons on their arms--also left makeshift signs with such eulogies as “We love you boys,” “We’ll miss you always” and “Forever in our hearts.”

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies had to block off two traffic lanes to accommodate the crowds.

Weber was among the young mourners. Barely speaking above a whisper, Weber said he didn’t remember much about the crash. “It just happened too fast,” he said.

Lellan was driving faster than 90 mph along the bicycle lane while trying to pass another car when he lost control of his Acura, authorities said.

Advertisement

Toxicology tests will determine whether he was driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, authorities said. The results will be known in about two weeks.

Weber said Lellan was driving “really fast” at the time of the accident. “I feel so bad; they were all special kids,” he said. “None of them should have died.”

Weber said he spoke to Lellan Thursday night at the hospital. “He told me, ‘Me and you are survivors.’ ”

Friends said the five teenagers shared a love of good humor and skateboarding. Timothy Renolds was also one of the region’s best high school swimmers, breaking a school record in the breaststroke last year.

“He was a happy kid who worked hard,” said Sally Nicholson, Renolds’ varsity swim coach. A tall, lanky youth with a ready smile and short, spiky hair, Renolds worked summers as a lifeguard at North Oaks Park in Canyon Country and at Hurricane Harbor, the water park at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia.

During the school year, he practiced with the swim team from 6 to 7 a.m. three times a week and worked afternoons and evenings for Domino’s Pizza.

Advertisement

Nicholson said Timothy Renolds was also something of a cutup.

“We were teasing him about his huge cubic zirconium earrings at practice yesterday,” Nicholson said, laughing. “He didn’t care. He was all cocky about it; he was like, ‘They’re cool.’ ”

Daniel Renolds joined his older brother at Canyon High School last year, and friends say the two had become even closer. Like his brother, Daniel was known for one-liners and impressions.

“He was loud and funny and never embarrassed,” said Monica Martinez, 15, who sat in front of him in biology class.

Ianozzi’s youth pastor, Jeremy Cook, said the teenager was an aspiring architect with a talent for drawing cars.

“He was in discipleship groups with us,” said Cook, who is affiliated with the evangelical Faith Community Church in Santa Clarita. Cook said Ianozzi had been sorting out his spiritual life lately and was trying to figure out what he wanted to do after high school.

“In the past week Nickie was into the Scripture and reading things that were challenging his life,” said Cook. “He told me he really wanted to focus more on God and what God wanted in his life.”

Advertisement

Lellan had played varsity volleyball for Canyon High. Robert Lee, superintendent of William S. Hart Union High School District, said Lellan and his friends “were all good students academically.”

Several students said Lellan shouldn’t be prosecuted for the accident.

“It’s not like he went out and said, ‘I want to kill my friends today,’ ” said Tina Bailey, a 17-year-old senior. “Everybody makes mistakes; he’s not a bad person.”

Canyon High Principal Vicki Engbrecht said she sympathized with Lellan’s family. “They are in a lot of pain right now,” she said.

The mood was bleak at the high school, where crisis counselors spoke with the victims’ friends. The flag hung at half-staff. A banner outside the school read: “In memory of our boys. God bless.”

Some students prayed in groups and others huddled together in corners sobbing.

“There’s no learning going on today,” said Nick Bishop, 18. “The mood is so somber; everybody is just trying to cope.”

Sheriff’s deputies said Lellan’s speeding Acura swerved, spun and crashed through the median and ran over three small trees that acted as a ramp and caused the car to become airborne.

Advertisement

The Acura flipped over in midair and landed on the Mustang “roof to roof,” said Deputy Mark Slater.

The Mustang came to rest 50 feet from the spot of the collision, while the Acura was 50 feet away in the other direction. The three dead teenagers in Lellan’s car were riding in the back seat. Two were not wearing seat belts and were thrown from the car.

Deputies booked Lellan on Friday and were holding him in lieu of $250,000 bail. His arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday in Newhall. Vehicular manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison.

*

Times staff writer Roberto J. Manzano contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Fatal Collision

The sequence of events that led to four deaths on Soledad Canyon Road on Thursday night:

*

Car’s Occupants

Picture was not available for Rodney Adams, the 45-year-old driver of the Mustang.

Marcus Lellan

Age: 18

Driver

UNINJURED

*

Daniel Weber

Age: 16

Passenger

UNINJURED

*

Dominic Ianozzi

Age: 16

Passenger

KILLED

*

Timothy Renolds

Age: 17

Passenger

KILLED

*

Daniel Renolds

Age: 15

Passenger

KILLED

Source: Santa Clarita sheriff’s station

RICHARD R. SANCHEZ and ROGER KUO/ Los Angeles Times

Advertisement