Eugene Harbrecht Death – The authorities on Thursday, confirmed the death of a long time Orange County Register Editor, 67-year-old Eugene Harbrecht, who met his sad end on Thursday, July 30, after a deadly crash involving a BMW that was in a street car race with another car.
Harbrecht, a Santa Ana resident, worked for the Register since March 1984. He recently functioned as the national and international news editor for the greater Southern California News Group.
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The Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna reports that the crash happened around 11.45 a.m on Bristol Street and Santa Clara Avenue.
Witness report prior to the crash says that a silver BMW sedan and a dark colored Infiniti sedan were racing at high speeds northbound on Bristol Street. The BMW collided into a Ford Ranger that was traveling southbound on Bristol and turning left on Santa Clara. The truck was pushed about 60 feet into a fence by the impact of the collision and went ablaze.
According to Bertagna,“There were two guys who live in the area that went and broke the window and pulled the victim out of the truck.”
Officers arrived after getting the notice and put out the fire with an extinguisher.
Harbrecht was taken to UC Irvine Medical Center hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
According to the police, the driver of the racing BMW identified as Louie Robert Villa, 29, of Santa Ana was hospitalized in unknown condition. He was later arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.
The other vehicle, the Infiniti, fled the scene, says Bertagna,although the license plate number was reported to the police by a witness. The Sedan was later accosted by the police hours later at a post office off First Street near Pacific Avenue.
The driver of the sedan identified as Ricardo Tolento Navarro, 24, of Santa Ana, was taken into custody. He was booked into the Santa Ana Jail on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter.
Investigation is still ongoing.