POLICE FILES - May 11, 2000

-- Eron Ben-Yehuda and Angelique Flores

After colliding with two other cars and jumping a curb, a car came to

rest inside a Slater Avenue apartment Tuesday.

Kevin Wong and his wife, Teresa, both 87, were headed westbound on Slater

and making a left-hand turn onto Van Buren Street when their 1997 Chevy

Lumina collided with two cars traveling eastbound on Slater at 11:51

a.m., police said. Kevin Wong was driving, police said.

The Fountain Valley man hit Orozco Nasla, 34, of Huntington Beach and

Milburn Orville, 54, of Los Alamitos, police said. Wong’s car jumped the

curb and ended up crashing into an apartment in the 8200 block of Slater.

“I was just going out to get the mail, and I heard a bang, bang, bang and

then a lot of screeching,” said Patty Gutierrez, a next-door neighbor.

“It was like an earthquake.”

The area around the apartment was broken down, and a hole was left in the

wall. No one was in the apartment at the time.

Police said Wong suffered from serious internal injuries, possibly from

the impact of hitting the steering wheel and was taken to UCI Medical

Center. His wife suffered two broken legs.

Nasla, who had chest pains, was taken to Huntington Beach Medical Center.

Orville was not injured.

There is no suspicion of alcohol use, police said. The fault of the

accident has not been determined, said Sgt. Janet Perez of the Huntington

Beach Police Department.

Cops recognized for outstanding service

The Huntington Beach Elks Lodge 1959 held its fifth annual Street Cops

Awards for the Huntington Beach Police Department. The event recognizes

officers for their service. Those honored this year were Senior Police

Officer Nicholas Ekovich Jr. for patrol, Det. Sam Lopez for

investigations, Police Officer and Pilot Brandon Reed for traffic-aero,

and Sgt. Guy Dove III for police services. Each officer was selected by

his peers.

“We just wanted to let the officers know that we appreciate their hard

work on the streets every day, and this is our way of showing that

appreciation,” said Ken Ferrell of the Elks.