Lake Forest Teen Is Gravely Injured in Early Morning Car Crash

A 17-year-old boy from Lake Forest is in critical condition today after a late-night car crash in the Trabuco Canyon area sent him and another Lake Forest teen to the hospital, authorities say.

At about 1 a.m. this morning, the Lake Forest teen was driving a 2007 Honda southbound on Santiago Canyon Road near Ridgeline Road, just outside the city limits.

For unknown reasons, he lost control of the vehicle, swerving off the road and crashing into an electrical pole, sustaining major injuries, according to a California Highway Patrol spokesman.

The sole passenger in the vehicle, also a 17-year-old from Lake Forest, sustained minor injuries in the crash, which was first reported to police at 1:17 a.m.

Personnel from the California Highway Patrol and Orange County Sheriff's Department responded to the crash, as did firefighters with the Orange County Fire Authority, who extricated the driver from the vehicle.

According to CHP Officer Chris Goodwin, the cause of the crash is being investigated. There is no indication that alcohol played a role in the crash, he added.

The teens, whose names were not released, were rushed to Mission Hospital where the driver remains in critical condition. The passenger was treated and has since been released.

According to Portola Hills resident Dominic DeLucia, the crash was startlingly loud.

"I live up just over the hill from where it happened," said DeLucia, who said he got home at about the time the teens crashed into the power pole.

"It looked like a flash of lightning and thunder—that's what I thought at first—but it was the car hitting the pole, and the transformer blew," he said.

DeLucia drove to the scene and found the sedan with the driver's-side door smashed into the pole, which had been knocked askew by the vehicle.

"The car was resting with the driver's door against the pole, so you couldn't get to the driver from that side," he said. DeLucia said spoke to the driver, who appeared to be unconscious, but didn't get a verbal response.

"He was having a tough time breathing," DeLucia said. "I tried to talk to him, and I couldn't tell whether he was responding ... he wasn't talking, that's for sure."

Police, paramedics and firefighters responded to the crash, working in semi-darkness because the crash knocked out electricity in the area, he said.

"Power in the whole neighborhood was out," he said. DeLucia said that power returned about 45 minutes after the crash.

Crews are currently at the scene of the accident replacing the electrical pole.