OCEANSIDE — A 20-year-old driver from North Carolina was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and gross vehicular manslaughter in the death of a 12-year-old boy after a crash in Oceanside that also sent four people to trauma centers, police said today.
The collision happened at about 11 p.m. Tuesday after an Oceanside Police Department officer was alerted to a white Volkswagen Golf GTI hatchback near Mission Avenue and Myers Street traveling with no lights on, according to Sgt. Clint Bussey of the OPD.
“The officer attempted to effect a traffic stop northbound on Myers Street just south of Pier View Way,” Bussey said. “The driver failed to yield and immediately sped north on Myers Street at a high rate of speed.”
About 30 seconds later, the suspect’s vehicle broadsided a blue Nissan Altima traveling east on Surfrider Way, the sergeant said. An officer arrived near Surfrider Way and North Myers Street shortly after the collision.
One of the Altima passengers, a 12-year-old boy, was fatally injured in the collision, Bussey said. The boy’s name was withheld pending notification of next of kin.
The other occupants of the Altima, a 27-year-old driver and a 6-year-old passenger, suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The two occupants of the Volkswagen suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Alcohol and speed were considered to be factors in the collision, Bussey said.
The driver, Edward Minot Jr. of Mill Spring, N.C., was arrested at a trauma center.
Anyone with information about the collision was asked to call OPD Traffic Collision Investigator David Paul at 760-435-4431.
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