Makeshift Memorial Rises Where 5 Died

Carloads of somber teens left roses, letters and candles Monday at the Van Ness Avenue telephone pole in Torrance where five South Bay friends were killed after their car slammed into it.

In turn, the mourners parked beside the curb, stepped out of their pickup trucks and sedans, surveyed the scene, and exchange hugs and recollections of the five young men, ages 16 to 27, who died Saturday night. Some wedged farewell letters into the cracks of the pole.

Staring at the skid marks circling the splintered base of the pole in the 400 block of Van Ness, 19-year-old Jessie Arias shook his head in sadness and said, “They were too young to die.”

Troy Francis, 20, helped place candles beside the pole, which was still smudged with green paint from the crushed 1995 Mercury Mystique.

Francis remembered one of the victims, 20-year-old Luke Ponds, as “the funniest guy I ever met.”

“He’d hear a song and start making up his own lyrics just to make you laugh,” Francis recalled. “He was loyal and trying to make it on his own. But saying all that doesn’t even begin to cover what I feel for the guy.

“Nothing you could put in the paper would do justice to these guys. If you didn’t know them you missed out,” he added.

Chris McFarland’s father, Jim McFarland, a contractor for the Los Angeles Unified School District, conceded that he and his son had a sometimes strained re

lationship.

“I’ll be honest with you, he was a thorn in my side, but now he’s a pain in my heart,” he said, trying not to cry. “But I’m proud to say the last time I saw him, we exchanged ‘I love yous.’ ”

“I loved him very much,” he added, “and wish I could have him back.”

Chris’ sister, Leah, 18, said her 16-year-old brother, a junior at North High, was an avid fan of heavy metal music and hip-hop who was “very, very funny . . . and popular with the ladies.”

“He was most special thing to me in the world,” she said.

Torrance police Monday continued to investigate the cause of the crash, which killed the five Torrance residents about 11:30 p.m. In addition to Ponds and McFarland, the victims were driver Lance Wellington Makaseah, 19; Scott Vansant, 27, and Johnnie Lee Lujan, 19.

Torrance police spokesman Sgt. Kevin Kreager said investigators think Makaseah’s car was speeding down the industrial street. Further investigation would be necessary, he said, to determine whether alcohol or other chemical substances played a role.

However, authorities Monday ruled out initial reports that the vehicle had been in a drag race.

According to witnesses who arrived shortly after the crash, the car was nearly split in half by the telephone pole. Rescue crews had to cut the car completely in half to free the victims.

All were pronounced dead at the scene except Makaseah, who died at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center a short time later.

McFarland was a sophomore at Torrance’s North High School. Lujan, who friends said worked at a grocery store, and Ponds, who was employed in the hardware department at Sears in Hawthorne, were North High graduates.

Ponds’ supervisor at Sears, Nick Muratalla, said Ponds was “a very easygoing guy who got along with everyone, and who showed up for work on time.”

On Sunday, he said, co-workers wore black ribbons in Ponds’ memory.

Among those paying their respects at the accident site Monday afternoon was John Groff, 20, who recalled being at Ponds’ house a week ago, watching home videos the group of young men had made while riding in the Mercury.

“They just liked to have a good time,” Groff said of the victims. “They weren’t up to trouble.”

One of the tow truck drivers involved in clearing away the wreckage also returned there Monday. The driver, who asked not to be named, said he had to call in a substitute driver the night of the crash because he couldn’t stomach seeing all the young victims among the wreckage.

Heidy Lyle, 18, brought her infant daughter with her to the memorial. “Chris [McFarland] was a young kid; he hadn’t even had a job yet, he hadn’t even started his life,” she said. “You’re going to see a lot of kids coming out here. These are guys who are going to be missed.”

Monday night, about 100 young adults, some accompanied by their parents, gathered for a candlelight vigil at the crash site. The group included people ranging from self-proclaimed anarchists to high school athletes, all crying softly and placing bouquets.