DMV to audit driver’s license application of teen killed in crash

The state Department of Motor Vehicles will audit the driver’s license application filed by the teenager who was behind the wheel when his car crashed into a tree in Newport Beach on Memorial Day, killing him and four passengers, an agency spokesman said Thursday.

Abdulrahman Alyahyan, 17, of Irvine did not have even a learner’s permit when his Infiniti sedan crashed Monday on Jamboree Road.

But Abdulrahman was cited April 20 for violating terms of a provisional license. Those violations included illegal modifications to his car.

Photos: Five killed in Newport Beach crash

The department is “following the trail of his application after he initially came in to apply,” said DMV spokesman Armando Botello.

The agency expects to have more information on Abdulrahman’s license status in the upcoming days, Botello said.

Police say that on Memorial Day, Abdulrahman was speeding south, perhaps as fast as 100 mph, in an Infiniti on Jamboree Road near Island Lagoon Drive when the car swerved out of control and struck a tree, shearing the vehicle in two. What was left caught fire.

Abdulrahman and all his passengers were killed. Among them were two sisters who attended Irvine High School -- Robin A. Cabrera, 17, a 12th-grader, and Aurora C. Cabrera, 16, a 10th-grader. Also killed were Nozad Al Hamawendi, 17, and Cecilia D. Zamora, 17, both 11th-graders at Irvine High School.

The car was so fragmented that firefighters initially believed two vehicles had been involved.

Friends said that the five were headed to the beach to celebrate the holiday and that a sixth student was to have joined them, but chose not to go at the last minute.

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lauren.williams@latimes.com

jill.cowan@latimes.com