Officials Work to Verify ID of Crash Victims

Authorities continued to work Sunday to confirm the identities of the two men who were fatally injured Friday night when a fully loaded gasoline truck collided with a car, overturned and exploded in flames.

Orange County deputy coroner Cullen Ellingburgh said the extent of burn injuries to both men, lack of dental records, the fact that the car had been borrowed, and difficulty in finding family members all hampered the grim task of identifying the victims and notifying their next of kin.

Sunday evening, officials and the wife of motorist Sarkis Kostanian, 35, of Glendale agreed that Kostanian was probably the man behind the wheel of the Ford Crown Victoria that was crushed by the truck.

“He hasn’t been home in two days,” Ellingburgh said. Kostanian had borrowed the car from a neighbor to run an errand and was on his way home.

At her home Sunday, a grieving Anait Kostanian, 25, said she had not viewed her husband’s remains.

“All I can say is he was a perfect man,” she said. “Now there is nothing left of him.”

The couple were married for four years and have one child.

Coroners plan to use a special machine to overlay photographs of Kostanian with skeletal remains from the crash to make a positive identification.

The truck driver was able to tell witnesses his name as he fled, engulfed in flames, from his rig. He is divorced, had been living in San Bernardino County and had not been in touch with his two children, believed to be in the Ventura area, Ellingburgh said. The driver, who was burned over 98% of his body, died Saturday.

Investigators believe the truck was traveling faster than the 25-mph limit posted in the area of the crash, where extensive construction is underway. The crash occurred as the truck driver made the transition from the westbound Riverside Freeway to the northbound Santa Ana Freeway.

The crash has renewed safety concerns about the hundreds of thousands of motorists who use Orange County freeways now undergoing a massive face lift. The interchange where it happened is part of a billion-dollar freeway widening project that has forced drivers to navigate narrow lanes and unexpected curves. Caltrans officials acknowledge that motorists may have difficulty deciding which lane to choose.

While indications are that the truck driver was speeding, an investigation into the cause of the crash continues.

On Sunday, while crews were still cleaning up waste water and fuel that remained after the incident, a California Highway Patrol investigation team from San Diego took photographs from the air and on the ground. Skid marks were painted orange.

“This is a high-profile case,” CHP Sgt. Mike Brey said. “Two people died. We are going to try to resolve this as quickly as we can. All we know is that the truck failed to negotiate a turn and hit the Crown Victoria and a fire ensued.”

Caltrans officials will review preliminary accident reports from the CHP today to determine whether to reconfigure the lanes and, again, post lower speed limits in the area.

“We’re going to take a close look at the accident reports,” Caltrans spokeswoman Rose Orem said. “Our job is to make sure we provide a safe freeway for everybody.”

Meanwhile, Orange County Sheriff’s Department officials said they will begin an investigation based on witnesses’ complaints that a sheriff’s special officer failed to help rescue the truck driver.

“They complained that the sheriff’s deputy on scene . . . did not render the appropriate aid to the burn victim,” Sheriff’s Lt. Rich Paddock said. The officer “is confident that he did his job. But because witnesses had a difference of opinion, this is something we will investigate.”

Witnesses said the person--who was the first and only officer on the scene at the time of the crash--was talking on his police radio in his car during the catastrophe instead of helping the injured. Authorities say the officer said he was intent on reporting the incident to alert the proper emergency and law enforcement authorities.

The special officer’s job typically involves patrolling parking lots to cite illegally parked cars. In an emergency, Paddock said, those officers’ responsibility is to alert the emergency communications bureau immediately.

Lt. Colin Murphy from the Sheriff’s Department said that, though the officer took several minutes to request emergency services over a sheriff’s radio frequency, he did the right thing.

“He was having problems using the transit authority’s radio frequency,” said Murphy, who listened to the taped call. “Then he switched over using a toggle switch, flipping through the sheriff’s main frequency, and called out the various resources.”

After the dispatcher receives the information, Murphy said, the dispatcher repeats the information to confirm that it is accurate.

“The best thing for [officers] to do is to make sure that no one is in danger, and wait for the fire department, he said. The good Samaritans at the scene “obviously made a good attempt to save this guy’s life.”