Man Charged in Crash That Killed 3 Teens Pleads Not Guilty

VAN NUYS — A man who police say broadsided a car and killed three teen-agers while fleeing from police pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that could end in the death penalty.

Oscar Orlando Argueta, 30, was arraigned in Van Nuys Municipal Court on three counts of murder with the special circumstances of multiple murders and murder during the commission of a burglary. Argueta is also charged with burglary and evading arrest causing death.

Argueta is being held without bail.

According to police, Argueta was seen trying to break into a restaurant on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks about 2:10 a.m. on June 13. When Argueta saw the officers, he ran to his car and sped away, heading north on Kester Avenue, police said.

Officers gave chase, and at Sherman Way and Kester Avenue, Argueta, driving at an estimated 60 to 70 m.p.h., ran a red light and crashed into a car carrying three youths, police said.

Killed on impact were Manuel Osorio, 18, and his younger brother Fernando, 16, both of Arleta, and their friend Rafael Camargo Dawe, 17, of Van Nuys.

Argueta was arrested at the scene, and was hospitalized for about two weeks in the jail ward of County-USC Medical Center recovering from injuries suffered in the accident.