A 20-year-old man 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 Thursday.
The collision occurred around 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 killed 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 of the Volkswagen, 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.
