2 teenagers killed in crash
may have been drag racing

Two Kissimmee-area teenagers were killed and a young woman was seriously injured after their car slammed into a tree late Friday in what authorities suspect was an illegal drag race on Hotel Plaza Boulevard near Lake Buena Vista.

Josue Rivera, 17, who was driving a 1996 Nissan Maxima, and passenger Sergio Badia, 16, died after Rivera lost control of his car, crossed a grass median and struck a tree about 11:25 p.m. Friday.

The driver's sister, Ody Rivera, 20, was seriously injured and taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center.

"It basically wrapped around a tree," Trooper Kim Miller, a spokeswoman for the Florida Highway Patrol, said of the Maxima.

It was the second time in the past week that a pair of teens died in a suspected drag-racing accident. Arnulfo "Mario" Gallegos Jr. and Abraham Lindsey, both 18, died Monday night when Gallegos' 1988 Honda Civic drove off U.S. Highway 17-92 and hit a fire hydrant and a utility pole.

Miller said witnesses told FHP investigators that Rivera's Maxima was racing a Ford Focus that fled the scene after the accident.

The Focus is white or silver with dark-tinted windows and ground-lighting effects, Miller said.

Copyright (c) 2004, Orlando Sentinel | By Pedro Ruz Gutierrez, Sentinel Staff Writer
 

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