Two cars traveling at high speed crash into Glenoaks trees

Two cars traveling at high speed on Glenoaks Boulevard slammed into separate trees Tuesday afternoon. Their occupants escaped with minor injuries, police said.

The crashes were reported at about 1:35 p.m. in the 2800 block of Glenoaks Boulevard near Scholl Canyon and involved a small Infiniti sedan and a Toyota Camry.

The two cars apparently were traveling together when the driver of the first car lost control and hit a tree, police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. In an effort to avoid that crash, the driver of the second car also lost control, striking another tree.

It was not immediately clear which car was the lead, police said. Investigators said the cars likely were traveling at about 60 mph at the time of the crash. The first car was driven by a male juvenile and was carrying an adult male passenger. The second car was driven by an adult male, Lorenz said.

The occupants reportedly “chased away” one witness in an attempt to dissuade that person from calling 911, Lorenz said.

Police have not released the identities of the men, and no arrests had been made pending the outcome of an investigation.

Witnesses also reported seeing the same vehicles spinning doughnuts in the parking lot for upper Scholl Canyon Park, Lorenz added.

Detectives could send the case to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office seeking reckless driving charges, depending on the outcome of the investigation, Lorenz said.

Traffic investigators are also looking into alleged high-speed driving down residential streets in South Glendale by employees of Pacific BMW. A driver was videotaped driving a brand new high-performance coupe, prompting complaints from neighbors. The dealership subsequently issued a statement assuring the public that it had “immediately handled the situation.”

Lorenz said motorists who flout speeding laws fail to realize that they’re driving what he called “a 2-ton bullet” that can’t be stopped on a dime.

“It just seems like people have a total disregard for safety on the roadway,” he said, adding that the speeding incidents called for “immediate corrective action, because we’re just not going to tolerate it here in Glendale.”