2 Killed, 1 Hurt as Car Flips, Hits Tree

Two Huntington Beach men were killed and a third was seriously injured early Tuesday when their convertible spun out of control, flipped and slammed into a tree near the Westminster Mall, authorities said.

Michael Paul Munoz and Edward Keith Rogers, both 18, were killed at the scene, police said. Passenger Jerome Martin, also 18 and of Huntington Beach, was airlifted to UCI Medical Center in Orange where he was in serious condition with fractures in both legs, hospital spokeswoman Kim Pine said.

The Chrysler sedan was seen traveling at “excessive speeds” on Edwards Street just before it crashed near Mar Vista Drive shortly after 3 a.m., said Westminster Police Lt. Bill Lewis. Munoz was the driver, he said.

Munoz apparently died from injuries and Rogers died of asphyxiation, a spokesman for the Orange County coroner’s office said. The three friends had graduated last summer from Huntington Beach’s Marina High School, where former classmates expressed horror over the accident.

“This upsets me ... because here are guys who were my classmen -- my age -- and are now dead,” said senior Joe Lordanich, 18.

Sean Evans, 17, who played on the Marina High School football team with Rogers last year, mourned Rogers’ death.

“He was a really nice guy,” Evans said. “He liked to smile a lot and was very sociable and funny. He always loved to tell silly jokes.”

The single-vehicle accident was not believed to have been connected to drag racing or alcohol, police said.

The wreckage and investigation tangled traffic on a section of Edwards Street for at least six hours Tuesday.