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Three dead, two seriously injured in street racing crash in Burbank, police say

A police officer walks near a smashed car on a city street.
An investigation is underway after three people were killed and two others badly hurt in a multivehicle collision early Wednesday in Burbank.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Three people were killed and two others were seriously injured in a fiery three-car crash in Burbank early Wednesday morning that investigators believed stemmed from street racing.

The three who died, who were traveling in a Volkswagen sedan, were not involved in the street racing, said Sgt. Emil Brimway of the Burbank Police Department.

They were identified by the L.A. County coroner’s office as 19-year-old Natale Maghaddam, 20-year-old Jaiden Johnson and 21-year-old Cerian Baker, who is the son of comedian and actor Tony Baker.

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Several celebrities, including David Allen Grier and Wanda Sykes, have expressed condolences to Baker and his family on social media.

At around 12:15 a.m. near Andover Drive and Glenoaks Boulevard, the Volkswagen was broadsided by two cars that appeared to be racing while making a left turn, Brimway said.

The driver and two passengers in the Volkswagen were pronounced dead at the scene. A female passenger was taken to a trauma center with serious injuries.

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The driver of one of the other cars, a Kia, was also taken to a hospital with serious injuries, according to the Police Department. Two people in the third car, a Mercedes-Benz, were unharmed, Brimway said.

Video footage of the scene showed a car sheared nearly in half.

“It is frustrating and difficult to see something like this,” Brimway said. “This is a tragedy that could have been avoided.”

No one has been arrested or cited, and Burbank police are investigating the crash.

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