3 killed, 3 injured in Oceanside crash; teen driver arrested, victims identified

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.

Officers arrested the truck’s driver, 19-year-old Mason Robert Fish, after determining he was under the influence of drugs, Oceanside police traffic Sgt. Rick Davis said.

Fish was booked into the Vista Detention Facility on Tuesday night on suspicion of six felonies, including three counts each of gross vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs resulting in bodily injury, according to jail records.

He was being held in lieu of more than $600,000 bail.

According to an initial investigation, Fish was southbound on South Coast Highway in a 2007 Toyota Tacoma when he ran a red light, striking the driver’s side of a Mazda6 sedan as it headed east through the intersection on Oceanside Boulevard about 12:50 p.m., Davis said.

All six people injured or killed in the crash were in the Mazda sedan and were related, Davis 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 13-year-old girl was one of the people thrown from the car along with 40-year-old Petra Arango, according to police and the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Arango, an Oceanside resident identified by authorities Wednesday, was taken to Tri-City Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 1:56 p.m., about an hour after the collision.

The teen, who was airlifted to Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, was expected to survive.

Two other women died at the scene in the back seat of the Mazda, Bussey said. They were identified Wednesday as 74-year-old Fallbrook resident Rufina Rodriguez and 56-year-old Eloina Arango, a resident of Mexico.

None of the four back seat passengers, including the three women who died and the teen girl, were wearing seat belts, authorities said.

That Mazda’s driver and passenger — identified Wednesday as a 43-year-old Oceanside man and 82-year-old Fallbrook man — were trapped until Oceanside Fire Department crews extricated them, Battalion Chief Greg DeAvila said. They were both airlifted to Scripps La Jolla Medical Center.

The survivors were hospitalized with serious injuries and expected to survive, Davis said.

Fish was uninjured, DeAvila said. But police 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.

The Oceanside Police Department’s major accident investigation team was probing the collision, and anyone with information was asked to call accident investigator David Paul at (760) 435-4431.

Twitter: @Alex_Riggins

(619) 293-1710

alex.riggins@sduniontribune.com

UPDATES:

Feb. 6: This article was updated with the names of the three victims killed in the crash.

10:25 p.m.: This article was updated with information about the charges on which Fish was booked into jail and other details.

7 p.m.: This article and its headline were updated to reflect that Fish was arrested.

5 p.m.: This article and its headline were updated to reflect that a third victim died at a hospital.

4:20 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details.

This article was originally published at 2:55 p.m. on Feb. 5.