Northridge Youth Among 3 Killed In Vanowen Street​ Pileup

LOS ANGELES, CA — Three San Fernando Valley men in their early 20s were killed in a Vanowen Street pileup that injured six other people over the holiday weekend, the Los Angeles County coroner's office confirmed Tuesday.

The high-speed crash occurred at about 9 p.m. Sunday in the 19700 block of Vanowen Street, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department and the Los Angeles Police Department. It took the lives of Steve Orellana Jr., 22, of Reseda, Celestino Fuentes, 22, of Burbank, and Isaiah Sanchez, 23, of Northridge, the Los Angeles County coroner's office reported. All three men died at the scene.

"The remaining six patients all sustained potentially serious injuries due to the mechanism of injury but all were stable upon transport," the LAFD reported.

LAPD Capt. Andrew Neiman told reporters at the scene the Ford Explorer with the three men inside was moving at 65-70 mph in the 35 mph zone at the time of the crash. The SUV struck a truck and careened into an Audi.

It was not immediately clear what caused the crash, but neighbors said the street has long been a problem for drivers.

"The scene, it was horrible," said neighbor Hector Rodriguez told NBC Los Angeles. "It was just a horrible scene."
A dip in the street causes people to lose control at high speeds, Rodriguez added.

"There used to be a sign and then it fell off," he said. "And ever since people don't know there's a dip right there. So every single time people come by at a high rate of speed they always lose control right about here."

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.