3 Victims identified in fatal single-vehicle crash in O.C.

Authorities Tuesday released the names of three of the five victims killed in a weekend vehicle crash in Santa Ana.

The three victims were 17-year-old Natalia Vidal Zarate, 18-year-old Emanuel Gonzalez Martinez and 20-year-old Arely Robles, all of Santa Ana, according to Sgt. Gerard McCann of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

The crash, which remains under investigation, occurred at about 11:25 p.m. Saturday on Segerstrom Avenue, between Raitt and Greenville streets, a few blocks west of Carl Thornton Park, according to the Santa Ana Police Department.

A four-door Lexus sedan had been speeding westbound on Segerstrom Avenue and struck a tree, according to Officer Natalie Garcia of the SAPD.

The driver was among the victims killed in the crash, Garcia said.

Four people were pronounced dead at the scene. Paramedics rushed two others to a hospital, and Santa Ana police confirmed Monday that a fifth person had died.

Two of the people in the vehicle were adults and four were teens who attended high schools in Santa Ana, Garcia said. In addition, some of the victims were related and five of the people in the vehicle were female, Garcia said.

The investigation of the cause of the crash remained “very preliminary,” but “they think speed is one of the main factors,” Garcia said.