Driver critical after car rolls, hits tree...

Driver critical after car rolls, hits tree

Police and firefighters responded to a rollover traffic accident

Sunday afternoon on Main Street near Yorktown Avenue.

The initial police investigation revealed that the vehicle was

traveling northbound on Main Street at a high rate of speed when the

driver, Victor Duarte Perez, 26, of El Monte, lost control and ran

into a tree. The vehicle skidded and rolled when it hit the tree,

police said.

When officers arrived on the scene, they found the driver and one

passenger still in the black Mitsubishi Montero, police said. Using

rescue equipment, fire personnel removed Perez from the vehicle. Both

Perez and his passenger, Ray Dominguez, 31, of Norwalk, were taken to

UCI Medical Center in Irvine.

Perez was listed in critical condition and Dominguez was stable,

police said.

A second passenger, a juvenile who fled the accident scene, later

contacted police, said Lt. Craig Junginger. The juvenile suffered

only minor injuries and told police he left because he was afraid the

car was going to explode.

Police are still investigating the accident, but do not believe it

is drug- or alcohol-related, Junginger said.

Police find bomb materials; arrest 2

Two Huntington Beach teenagers were arrested Sunday night near the

Bella Terra Mall on Edinger Street after a police officer found

bomb-making materials inside their car, said Lt. Craig Junginger.

A police officer was driving through the mall parking lot at 9:35

p.m. Sunday when he noticed two men standing next to a car with the

hood up near the old Montgomery Ward building, Junginger said.

When the officer asked what they were doing, the men told him they

were taking parts off the car they assumed was abandoned. The officer

noticed another car parked nearby and, upon investigating, found the

second car contained materials used to make bombs, Junginger said.

Police searched the car and found a piece of galvanized pipe, gun

powder and glass jars containing the residue of explosive materials.

The pipe could have been used to make a pipe bomb, he said.

The Huntington Beach Fire Dept. Hazmat team was called in, along

with the Orange County Bomb Squad.

Michael Colan Arnall, 18, of Huntington Beach, and a minor were

arrested on suspicion of possessing destructive devices and material

to make explosives. sheriff’s deputies took the bomb-making materials

into custody, Junginger said.