5 Teenagers Injured When Car Hits Pole

Five Agoura High School students suffered broken bones, bruises and cuts Friday when their speeding car hit a telephone pole and flipped over on its roof in a dirt embankment, authorities said.

None of the injuries was life-threatening. Fifteen-year-old Brandon Gomez, who suffered a broken leg, was admitted to UCLA Medical Center, where he was in good condition Friday night. Neil Perin, 16, was treated at UCLA Medical Center for abdominal and back pain and transferred to Kaiser Permanente Hospital.

Krystal Morrow, 14; Roy Levy, 15; and Ryan Huddleston, 16, were treated at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks and released.

The accident occurred about 12:20 p.m. as the teens were traveling eastbound on Agoura Road just east of Cornell Road. The driver lost control and the car careened across the median and hit the telephone pole, authorities said.

“They were extremely lucky,” said Sgt. Mo Angel of the Lost Hills/Malibu Division of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. “There could have been oncoming traffic, the telephone pole could have been much larger. It could have been much worse.”

Angel said one of the 16-year-olds was driving the car, but he declined to identify him. Investigators are still trying to determine how fast the driver was going, Angel said.

Las Virgenes Unified School District officials said juniors and seniors are allowed off campus during lunch with parental permission. Deputy Supt. Donald Zimring said he did not know if the five students had lunch passes.