3 Killed After Collision Sends Truck Into Backyard Pool In Garden Grove
GARDEN GROVE (CBSLA) – A collision sent a speeding truck careening into a backyard pool early Friday morning in Garden Grove, killing three people in the process.
The Dodge Ram truck collided with a car at the intersection of Euclid Street and Orangewood Avenue just after 2:10 a.m., according to the Orange County Fire Authority.
The truck then sheared a fire hydrant — sending a geyser of water streaming into the air — and slammed through a block wall, landing upside down in the pool. The male driver was killed.
Following the collision, firefighters used a camera to search inside the truck. Over eight hours later, Garden Grove police reported that the body of a male passenger was also found inside the truck at around 11:30 a.m. as it was being extracted from the pool.
The sedan, meanwhile, rolled and landed on its top in the street. Its driver was rushed to a hospital, where he also died, police said.
Annette Agosta and her two roommates were asleep inside the home just a few feet away from the crash.
"It was like a big bang," Agosta said.
"It was just an extreme loud noise, I jumped up and the smell was horrendous," added roommate Renee Robinson.
Police reported that just prior to the crash, an officer had spotted the truck speeding out of the parking lot at Chapman Avenue and Harbor Boulevard, about two miles from where the crash occurred.
The officer activated his siren and tried to follow the truck, police said.
The responding officer dived into the pool to try and rescue the driver.
"And then after the bang, police were right there," Agosta said.
Firefighters were on scene all morning working to extract the truck from the pool.
Neither of the suspects were immediately identified, but the victim was identified by family members as 39-year-old Michael Clugston, of Anaheim.
His newlywed wife, Stephanie Clugston, said he promised to text her when he got to work Friday morning, but that text never came.
"We just got back together about a year and a half ago, and he was taken away far too soon," she said through tears.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help cover the funeral costs.
It's unclear if drugs or alcohol contributed to the wreck. California Highway Patrol was investigating.
