Callahan & Blaine

A 27-year-old San Clemente woman has been arrested on suspicion of DUI after she rear-ended a car on Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach that caught fire and killed three of the four people trapped inside.

According to the Huntington Beach Police Department, Bani Duarte was also charged with vehicular manslaughter in the deaths of three Las Vegas teens who were visiting the area on Spring Break. The three teens killed in the crash have been identified as T.J. Rossi, Dylan Mack, and Brooke Hawley. All three were students at Centennial High School in Las Vegas.

Police said that the teens were in a Toyota sedan that was stopped at a light at Pacific Coast Highway and Magnolia Street when their car was hit from behind by Duarte. The Toyota immediately caught fire and one person was able to escape from the car before it became fully engulfed. The other three victims were all pronounced dead at the scene.

A witness who saw Duarte driving erratically on PCH said he called police and then followed her vehicle; he said he saw the crash and tried to help those trapped inside, but was thwarted by the flames. The person who escaped from the Toyota was taken to a local hospital with unspecified injuries.

If you or a loved one is involved in an accident that causes death or serious injury, call the Orange County personal injury attorneys at Callahan & Blaine, California’s Premier Litigation Firm.  We are one of the leading catastrophic personal injury law firms in California. In fact, Callahan & Blaine has obtained numerous record-breaking verdicts and settlements, including a $50 Million settlement against the City of Dana Point, which has been certified as one of the largest personal injury settlements in the history of the United States.

Callahan & Blaine also has numerous other record-breaking verdicts and settlement in Orange County, including the largest jury verdict in the history of Orange County ($934 Million), the largest class action settlement ($38 Million), the largest insurance bad faith judgment ($58 Million) and the largest employment law settlement ($38 Million).  Callahan & Blaine also has obtained personal injury settlements of $28 Million for a driver who was hit by a runaway truck wheel on the freeway,  $15.5 Million for a bicycle accident on Pacific Coast Highway,  $7.25 Million for a bus accident, $7 Million for a bicyclist who was struck by a delivery truck, and $6 Million for a bicyclist struck by an airport shuttle bus.

If you or someone you know has suffered a catastrophic injury or died as the result of an accident, please contact our Orange County law firm for expert legal counsel.