Evo Street Racers: Street Racing Accidents

14-year-old boy killed in Huntington Beach wreck

Source: OCregister
Date:March 16, 2008
Author: SERENA MARIA DANIELS and DEEPA BHARATH

The 14-year-old who died Saturday night after the car he was in ran a stop sign and hit a car full of small children, was identified today as Phoenix Nguyen, a Bolsa Grande High Schoolbasketball player and band member.

Last Monday, the freshman backup point guard received the Coach's Award at the basketball team banquet for being "an extension of the coach on the floor," varsity coach Scott Snyder said.

Nguyen would film the varsity team's games for the coach.

"He would suit up and was an active member of the team, but when the rest of the boys were up in the stands after the game talking to girls, goofing off, he'd be helping us out," Snyder said.

Three grief counselors were on hand at Bolsa Grande this morning for students and staff members, said district spokesman Alan Trudell.

The man whose car was hit, Devin Miller, said Sunday that investigators told him the vehicle that hit him was racing with at least one other car. Police would not confirm that.

"From what I got out of the incident was that two cars were racing, one was chasing," Miller said at his Huntington Beach home. He said he saw three cars being towed away.

Two other cars at the scene of the accident were impounded, but police have not made any arrests and need to investigate more before considering charges, said Sgt. Rob Warden of the Huntington Beach Police Department.

No one in Miller's car was hurt.

Ty Van Nguyen, 18, of Garden Grove was driving southbound just before 5 p.m. in a black Acura Integra on Bushard Street when he ran the stop sign on Banning Avenue, police said in a news release.

The Acura collided with a white Cadillac Escalade driven by Miller, 39, who was driving east on Banning.

Miller was driving his family of five – including three boys, 5, 4, and 13 months – and a 5-year-old girl to a birthday party at the time.

"If I was one second (later), you wouldn't be talking to me or any of my kids," Miller said.

The 14-year-old Acura passenger was taken to a hospital, where he died at 8:14 p.m. His name was not released.

Nguyen had cuts on his face, legs and arms; a 17-year-old female passenger from Westminster suffered severe injuries. They were both transported to UCI Medical Center, Warden said. Two other passengers in Nguyen's car, Pauline Nguyen, 18, of Garden Grove and a 17-year-old boy, both had minor injuries and were released from Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, he said.

The Millers live within a mile of the intersection. In the eight years that they've lived there, Miller said, he hears the screeching of tires most nights between 12 midnight and 3 a.m.

"We were having a perfect moment," his wife Trudi Miller, 39, said. "The kids were in the back seat, kind of goofing around. I was completely engaged in the kids' conversation. It happened so fast – there was no sound at all."

Anton Norac, 34, said his backyard faces Bushard Street and that he saw the Acura spinning out through his window and called 911.

Norac, who has lived there for about 12 years, said street racing is a daily occurence near that intersection.

"It's a wide open street, there's usually very little traffic and no police patrols," he said. "Street racing happens during the night and in the day too."

Most times, they reach speeds between 80 to 100 mph, Norac said.

"I've called police three dozen times," he said. "I'm really concerned because a lot of kids are around, the elementary school is close by. But when police get here, the cars are gone."

Others cited problems with the intersection.

Fiona Hernandez, 39, of Huntington Beach, who lives nearby, said she would like to see the city step in and make the stop signs at the intersection "more prominent."

"It's a quiet intersection," she said. "There's not much traffic here. That could be one reason drivers don't feel the need to stop there."

No one was cited in the Saturday wreck. Huntington Beach Police officers are asking for anyone with information to call the Traffic Bureau at 714-536-5666.