Street racing investigated as possible cause of double fatal crash in South Los Angeles

SOUTH LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A man and a woman were killed Sunday evening in a violent two-vehicle crash in South Los Angeles that may have been the result of street racing, investigators said.

The high-speed collision was reported about 10:15 p.m. near the intersection of Adams Boulevard and Sixth Avenue in Jefferson Park, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. A driver lost control of a sedan, which then T-boned a truck and overturned.

The driver and a passenger of the first vehicle were pronounced dead at the scene, the LAPD said. The Los Angeles County coroner's office said the 18-year-old driver's name was Diego Jose Portillo-Marquez; the deceased passenger was identified only as a woman in her 20s.

Two survivors were transported to hospitals: a third occupant of the overturned vehicle, a critically injured 21-year-old man; and the driver of the truck, a 44-year-old man in fair condition.

Witnesses and police pointed to street racing as a possible cause of the crash.

Johnathan Lantigua, a witness and Jefferson Park resident, described the moments that led up to the impact.

One driver "was going about a hundred miles an hour, he hit a dip, and after he hit a dip he spun out, the other car came, crashed it."

Lantigua said speeding is common in the immediate area, which saw at least two other collisions on Sunday.

"I think speed is a problem," Lantigua said. "I mean, I understand that they want to have big roads and have less lights for traffic during the daytime. But at nighttime, there needs to be more lights or some stop signs going on, where people know that they can't speed around there."