Vehicles’ Speeding Kills a Dad, Hurts Girls

A 31-year-old driver was killed and his three young daughters in the back seat seriously injured when their small passenger car was hit head-on by a pickup truck that crossed a double yellow line while racing another vehicle through Santa Ana, police said.

The driver of the Ford pickup, Arturo Ortiz Jr., 21, of Santa Ana, also was injured. He was hospitalized at UCI Medical Center in Orange and charged with vehicular manslaughter. A female passenger in Ortiz’s truck was also injured, although authorities said they couldn’t provide details.

The other vehicle that was apparently racing about 6:50 p.m. Friday was a black pickup or SUV. Its driver sped away after the crash near the intersection of Flower Street and Central Avenue and remains unidentified, police said.

Jose Escobar Estrada, 35, of Santa Ana, was pronounced dead at the scene. His daughters were taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana.

Michelle Estrada, 6, was in very serious condition soon after the accident, said police Sgt. Baltazar De La Riva. Her sisters--Clarabell, 3, and Esmerelda, 11--suffered moderate injuries, he said.

At the request of the family, the hospital would not release information on the girls’ conditions Saturday evening. Another passenger in their car, Paulino Estrada, 20, was also injured, police said.

The apparent racing started on Flower Street, north of Sunflower Avenue, police said. The vehicles sped north, exceeding 60 mph during their milelong race, cutting back and forth in front of each other, witnesses told police.

The pair stopped for a red light at Alton Avenue and resumed racing when it turned green, police said. Near Central, the driver of the black vehicle cut in front of Ortiz’s truck and when its driver briefly hit the brakes, Ortiz swerved either to pass the vehicle or avoid it, and smashed head-on into Escobar’s Ford Tempo.