3 killed and 3 injured in Oceanside crash; teen driver arrested

Three women were killed and three other people were injured — including a 13-year-old girl — when the car they were riding in was broadsided by a pickup that ran a red light at an Oceanside intersection Tuesday afternoon, police said.

The truck’s driver, 19-year-old Mason Fish, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of a controlled substance, Oceanside police traffic Sgt. Rick Davis said.

The 13-year-old girl and a woman were thrown from the back window of the 2003 Mazda 6 sedan when the car was broadsided by Fish’s 2007 Toyota Tacoma about 12:50 p.m., police Sgt. Greg Stahley and spokesman Tom Bussey said.

The woman thrown from the car died at a hospital, while two other women died at the scene in the back seat of the Mazda, Bussey said.

The Mazda’s driver and passenger were trapped in the car until Oceanside Fire Department crews extricated them, Battalion Chief Greg DeAvila said.

According to an initial investigation, Fish was southbound on South Coast Highway when he ran a red light, striking the driver’s side of the Mazda as it headed east through the intersection on Oceanside Boulevard, Davis said.

All six people injured or killed in the crash were in the Mazda sedan, Bussey said.

“The collision caused the Mazda to spin around violently, causing two of its rear seat passengers to be ejected from the car onto the roadway,” Davis said in a statement.

The two people thrown from the car — the woman who died and the 13-year-old girl — were not believed to have been wearing seat belts, Bussey said. Medics airlifted both of them, the driver and the front-seat passenger to hospitals.

The teen was taken to Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, Bussey said. Two other victims were taken to Scripps La Jolla Medical Center, and one was taken to Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside.

The extent of the injuries to the 13-year-old, the driver and the front-seat passenger were not immediately known.

Fish was uninjured, DeAvila said. Officers evaluated him for drugs and alcohol and arrested him, Davis said, without specifying which drug or drugs he was suspected of using.

All seven people involved in the crash were Oceanside residents. The names of the victims were withheld pending family notifications.

Oceanside Boulevard and South Coast Highway, which is about two blocks from the beach, remained closed in all directions past nightfall.

Alex Riggins writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.