WESTMINSTER, Calif. (AP) - A driver fleeing police plowed into a van at an Orange County intersection, killing a 12-year-old girl and injuring her mother and brother, before he was captured hours later hiding in a backyard, authorities said.
Aleksandar Apostoloic, 26, of Santa Ana, was arrested before dawn Friday on suspicion of murder. It was not immediately clear whether he had obtained an attorney.
The chase began at about 6 p.m. Thursday when a Westminster police officer tried to pull over a driver wanted on drug trafficking and weapons charges, police said.
The driver rammed his Chevrolet Suburban into the patrol car and sped off. The brief chase ended a few blocks later when the Suburban broadsided a Toyota van.
“We watched it zoom by us, and he wasn’t going to stop, witness Robert Ramirez told KNBC-TV (https://bit.ly/1siib1Y). “He was going too fast to stop.”
Ramirez estimated the car was traveling about 80 mph on the neighborhood street when it hit the van.
“There was nothing we could do,” Ramirez said. “It was bad.”
News reports showed the van was virtually torn apart. The Suburban flipped over.
“He climbed out of the truck, and jumped over the wall and he was gone,” Ramirez told KABC-TV (https://bit.ly/1lun6Jk ).
Ramirez said he and his wife ran to the van to help.
“The driver got out right away and she was crying, full of blood,” he said. “And me and my wife ran out to take her a towel, and we were going to see if we could help the passengers, and the girl in the back wasn’t even conscious.”
Vivian Uyen Nguyen, a seventh-grader at Johnson Middle School in Westminster, was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Her mother and 13-year-old brother were hospitalized in critical but stable condition, police said.
On Friday, Vivian’s father, Thomas Nguyen, placed flowers and incense at a memorial at the intersection.
He kneeled on his hands and knees and began to cry, KNBC-TV reported.
His daughter enjoyed painting and playing the piano, he said.
“Tell me why somebody took my daughter,” he said.
Counselors would be on hand at Johnson Middle School to help students and staff cope with the 12-year-old’s death, a school statement said.
The fleeing Suburban overturned after the crash and the driver fled.
Shortly before midnight, a 911 caller said a stranger inside her home had run out the back door, police said.
An Anaheim police helicopter equipped with an infrared detector spotted someone hiding in the bushes in a backyard and Apostoloic was arrested and later treated for minor injuries.
A police officer who was in the rammed patrol car also was treated for minor injuries.
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