LA PUENTE >> Two men died and a woman suffered major injuries following a solo-car crash possibly linked to street racing early Easter Sunday, authorities said.
A 26-year-old La Puente man who was driving the car and a 19-year-old La Puente man riding as a passenger died at the scene of the 3:20 a.m. crash on Puente Avenue, just north of Amar Road, according to California Highway Patrol and Los Angeles County Department of Coroner officials. A 23-year-old woman was hospitalized with severe injuries.
All three were inside a 2000 Chevrolet Malibu that was heading south on Puente Avenue “at a high rate of speed” just before the crash, Officer A. Rolens of the CHP’s Baldwin Park office said in a written statement.
“For unknown reasons, the driver of the Chevrolet lost control, which caused the Chevrolet to collide with the rear of a legally parked Ford truck,” the officer said.
“A witness indicated the Chevrolet Malibu may have been racing a beige sedan,” he said.
Only the 19-year-old man was wearing a seat belt, officials said.
The force of the collision broke a concrete fence footing separating the sidewalk from the backyard of Richard and Lilly Koutsky.
The couple said they heard the crash from their bed.
“I heard a very big noise,” Lilly Koutsky said. Richard Koutsky said he got up to see what had happened and called 9-1-1.
“Two men died and a lady was crying and saying, ‘help, help,’” Lilly Koutsky said.
Bystanders tried to help the woman before police and paramedics arrived, she said.
The names of the two men were not released Sunday pending notification of family, coroner Lt. Fred Corral said.
While coroner’s investigators described the driver as a La Puente resident, CHP officials had his hometown listed as West Covina.
Anthony Guzman, 20, of La Puente described the 19-year-old passenger killed in the crash as his best friend.
“I knew him since preschool. He’s always been my best friend. He was always there,” Guzman said.
Guzman described his friend as “funny” and “well-rounded.”
He never had an attitude with anybody,” Guzman said.
After attending Workman and La Puente high schools, the young man had just completed an associate’s degree in criminal justice at ITT Tech, Guzman said. He was hoping to become a forensic investigator.
Guzman said his friend enjoyed soccer and skateboarding.
Guzman said he did not know who the man and woman who accompanied his friend were.
The timing of the fatal collision on Easter Sunday seemed to only compound the tragedy, said Guzman’s mother, Victoria Anaya Guzman.
“I had just gotten home from Mass when I got a call from his mom,” Anaya Guzman said.
“He was a great kid,” she said.
Anyone with information regarding the crash was asked to contact the Baldwin Park office of the CHP at 626-338-1164.

PHOTOS and VIDEO by Keith Durflinger