Fast And Furious Crash Trial Continues In Rancho Santa Margarita

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, CA — It has been nearly four years since Sajid Shanzhe, then a 19-year-old woman who was driving three teenagers, ran off Melinda Road near Santa Margarita Parkway striking a tree.

One of her passengers, Kiana Yazdihan, perished after the crash. Two others were seriously injured, needing multiple surgeries following the incident, according to the OC Register. Shanzhe is facing felony vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, as well as two counts of reckless driving causing great bodily injury. According to the Register, of the two surviving passengers, one is only able to walk with pain medication, and the other has no feeling on the left side of her body.

Investigators stated that Shanzhe was driving at least 80 miles her hour and possibly up to 100 miles per hour in a zone rated 45-mph, according to Deputy District Attorney Whitney Bokosky in her opening statement. Her love of speeding may have come from an obsession with "Fast and Furious," according to the OCDA's Bokosky, who stated during the trial that Shanze visited the site of the deadly collision where "Fast and Furious" star Paul Walker died in Santa Clarita one week prior to the Rancho Santa Margarita crash. The survivors of the collision stated that mentioned the movies while picking up the three passengers after a house party, Bokosky said.

Shanzhe's attorney, Rick Vallejo, alluded that the vehicle she was driving might have had faulty brakes. He also alluded that she was the only sober one in the car, and that the passengers were angry about their friend's death and had "motive to lie." He also alluded that the teens had admitted to drinking and taking LSD at the house party, according to the Register.

"That night was a tragedy, there are no two ways about it,” Vallejo said in opening statements. "But just because something is tragic does not give us the right to point the finger and cast blame if there is no evidence."

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