Teen killed, 8 others hurt in crash after San Diego high school football game
SAN DIEGO (KSWB) — A 17-year-old boy was killed late Friday and eight others were injured in a high-speed, head-on crash in San Diego after a group of teens left a high school football game nearby.
The crash happened in Linda Vista, about a mile from Kearny Senior High School where a football game had just wrapped up between the home team and Santana High School from Santee.
A Toyota and a Nissan sedan, each carrying young people leaving the game and driven by a 17-year-old boy, were “either racing or accelerating up the street” when the Toyota lost control, side-swiped the Nissan and smashed into an oncoming car head-on, SDFD Fire Batt. Chief Ed Kinnamon said.
The violent collision drew a significant number of police officers, ambulances and firefighters, with a tactical rescue team working quickly to get the victims to different hospitals — spread out among several medical centers to avoid overwhelming any one trauma unit, Kinnamon explained. Some victims had to be freed from the wreckage of the head-on crash with the firefighters’ “jaws of life” tool.
The teen driving the Toyota was pulled from the wreck and taken to the hospital, but pronounced dead a short time later, and two of the three young adults riding with him were severely injured. Three people from the oncoming car, a Mazda sedan, were left severely injured, including the 21-year-old woman who had been driving, police confirmed.
The three people inside the Nissan reported some pain but were not badly hurt. They were checked by medics with plans to eventually send them to the hospital after the other victims were rescued, according to Kinnamon.
Authorities have not publicly identified anyone involved in the crash or indicated whether the teens were students at one of the two schools from that night’s game. One of the crash victims could be seen wearing eye black and unlabeled athletic gear.
No update on the hospitalized patients had been provided as of noon Saturday.