Crime & Safety

UPDATED: Focus Shifts to Reckless Driving in Good Samaritan Deaths

Authorities are investigating a new angle in a crash that led to the electrocution of two good Samaritans.

UPDATE--5:37 p.m: The driver of the crashed vehicle was identified by LAPD as 19-year-old Arman Samsonian of Glendale. His name is being disclosed because several media outlets have already named him as the driver, said Officer Cleon Joseph.

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The car crash in Valley Village on Wednesday that knocked over a fire hydrant and a power pole, , is now being investigated as a reckless driving case, CBS2 reports.

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The driver of the 2012 Chevy Traverse, 19-year-old Arman Samsonian of Glendale, lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a turn and sheared a hydrant at Magnolia Boulevard and Ben Avenue around 8:30 p.m., according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Several people attempted to render aid, while two women were electrocuted after stepping in gushing water that was exposed to downed power lines, authorities said.

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Witnesses told CBS2 that the vehicle was speeding and possibly racing.

“They were racing. There were two cars,” nearby resident Jacqueline Montgomery told CBS2. “They weren’t going 35, let me tell you.”

Irma Zamora was one of the women who died trying to help the crashed vehicle, while the other, identified by neighbors, was Stacy Schrieber.

Samsonian is being hospitalized with injuries, according to NBC.


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