DUI Arrest Follows Tustin Crash Killing Two

Two women were killed near Tustin on Sunday night when a drunk driving suspect ran a red light and plowed into their car, police said.

Police said the suspect’s van was northbound on Newport Boulevard and had already run two red lights when it ran a third red light and broadsided a Toyota Corolla at Cowan Heights Drive and Rockhurst Avenue in Cowan Heights about 6:40 p.m.

The two women in the Toyota, which was hit as it turned onto southbound Newport Boulevard from Cowan Heights Drive, died at the scene, police said.

Police withheld the victims’ names until their next of kin could be notified, but they described the driver as a 24-year-old from Whittier and her passenger as a 38-year-old from Garden Grove. The passenger had three children, according to California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Colleen Richardson.

Witnesses said the sister of the Toyota’s driver was driving behind her and saw the crash.

Richardson said the driver of the van was arrested on suspicion of felony drunk driving. Police were trying to identify him and his passenger late Sunday night. Both were treated for minor injuries at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana.

Jerry Felde, 37, said he was driving behind the van and witnessed the collision.

“It was a direct broadside to the driver door,” he said. “When I watched the car get hit, I knew the driver could not survive.”

Felde said he saw the van run two red lights before the crash and that he was frantically honking his horn to try to make it stop.

After the collision, Felde said, he ran to the van to turn the motor off and saw what he described as a very young driver lying between the two captain’s chairs in the front, looking around vacantly. He said the driver and an older passenger appeared to be intoxicated.

Dionne Watkins, 19, said she was riding in a truck with her brother on their way home from church when the van crashed into the Toyota, spun out, then hit their car.

“That was the scariest thing I have ever seen,” she said. “When we saw it, at that point we knew those ladies were dead.”

A portion of Newport Boulevard was closed during the police investigation.