Motorist arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, vehicular manslaughter

LOS ANGELES, CA (FOX 11/CNS) - A man was arrested on Sunday, suspected of drunken driving and triggering a fiery crash in South Los Angeles that killed an infant, child and adult, and critically injured three other people, police said.

Jose Manuel Garcia, 30, was arrested at 9:55 p.m. Saturday and booked in the LAPD's 77th Station Street jail at 12:59 a.m., according to the Sheriff's Inmate Information Center.

Garcia was then transferred at 6:45 a.m. to the Inmate Reception Center, 450 Bauchet St., where he was being held in lieu of $330,000 bail.

He was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, said Sgt. Clarence Perkins of the LAPD's South Traffic Division.

Garcia was also arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, said Officer Mike Lopez of the LAPD's Media Relations Section.

Witnesses told a TV station photographer that the driver had sped up to beat a changing traffic signal, at 76th Street, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The signal was red when his car -- not described by police -- broadsided a westbound van, said Sgt. Clarence Perkins of the LAPD's South Traffic Division.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart said rescue crews found "both vehicles were fully involved in fire," Stewart said.

An infant, a child and an adult were pronounced dead at the scene; a child and two adults were taken to hospitals in critical condition, Stewart said.

Witnesses at the scene said the crash involved a van and a car with only a driver inside.

At least one bystander captured the aftermath of the crash on video, with images of the vehicles completely engulfed in flames.