2 Early-Morning Accidents Kill 4

Four people died in two crashes on Orange County roadways early Sunday morning, one in which a car full of teenagers traveling 100 mph down a Fountain Valley street slammed through a wall, and another in which an allegedly drunk driver drove the wrong way in a freeway carpool lane.

Residents of Santa Domingo Circle in Fountain Valley were awakened by a loud crash and anguished screams for help about 1:30 a.m. after a car traveling at high speed down Slater Avenue plowed through a soundwall into a backyard, then back out onto the street.

Two passengers were killed, and a third teen was in critical condition.

The driver, Vinh Hoang, 19, of Westminster, did not suffer any injuries--perhaps because his air bag deployed, Fountain Valley police said. He was booked into Orange County Jail on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, police said.

“Excessive speed is what we’re looking at right now,” said Police Sgt. Sarah Long. “He was not arrested for being intoxicated.”

Hilario Quiniano said he and his wife had been asleep about two hours when he heard a crash and then voices yelling for someone to call 911. “. . . All this rubble everywhere,” Quiniano said.

A grisly scene greeted them and other neighbors who rushed outside.

“We just heard screaming,” said Cindy Bartman, who lives across the street from the Quinianos.

One teen was lying dead in the middle of the road; near him another lay gravely injured. A third appeared trapped in the car.

Investigators determined that Hoang lost control of his Honda coupe and slammed into the wall on Slater Avenue near Magnolia Street. After studying the skid marks, police determined that he was driving more than 100 mph.

David Palmer, 19, of Fountain Valley was ejected from the car and died at the scene. Another passenger, Steven Choe, 18, of Garden Grove, died a few hours later at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana. A third passenger, Victor Contreras, 19, of Westminster, remained in stable condition.

Quiniano spent Sunday trying to clean up his normally neat yard. Bricks from the soundwall blasted through two windows of his house, scattering glass across the Christmas tree in the family room. His carefully tended eggplants and tangerines were knocked off their stalks and sent flying.

Another neighbor said that a somber group of youths came by late in the afternoon and left behind three little snow globes, one depicting teddy bears, another toy soldiers and a third Frosty the snowman.

About 2:50 a.m. Sunday, California Highway Patrol officials said, two men were killed and four other people suffered serious injuries when an allegedly drunk driver entered the Santa Ana Freeway at Main Street in Santa Ana and headed north in the southbound carpool lane.

Two visitors from Vancouver, Canada, who were traveling in a southbound minivan braked when they saw the other vehicle coming toward them but crashed head-on and suffered major injuries. They were taken to St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, but their conditions were not released Sunday.

The driver of the wrong-way vehicle, a 26-year-old Buena Park resident, suffered fatal injuries. The front-seat passenger, a 25-year-old Buena Park resident, was ejected and also died. Coroner’s officials declined to release their names Sunday pending notification of relatives.

Two other men, ages 32 and 20, who were riding in the car also were injured. They were taken to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo where they were reported in satisfactory condition.