Three injured in five-vehicle crash Three people...

Three injured in five-vehicle crash

Three people were injured in a five-vehicle crash in Newport Beach

on Wednesday night, officials said.

The accident occurred at the intersection of Coast Highway and

Superior Avenue at about 7:20 p.m., when the driver of a Ford

Expedition failed to stop at a red light and rear-ended another car,

causing a chain reaction crash involving three other vehicles in

front, Newport Beach Police accident investigator Mike Schiavi said.

The sport utility vehicle rolled over and came to rest on its

side. The driver of that vehicle, believed to have caused the

accident, was extricated from the vehicle and taken to Western

Medical Center in Santa Ana, Newport Beach Fire Capt. Mike Ybarra

said. The extent of his injuries were not known. Two women who were

in the car ahead of the Expedition were taken to Hoag Hospital,

Ybarra said.

Traffic was backed up for several minutes because of road

closures. East Coast Highway between Prospect Street and Balboa

Boulevard was closed, while West Coast Highway was shut down from

Balboa.

The driver of the Expedition must have hit the car ahead of him at

about 45 or 50 miles an hour, Schiavi said.

Joyce Gillbank of Yorba Linda was heading back home after walking

her dog at the dog park in Huntington Beach when she got rear-ended

by the car in front of the Expedition.

“It all happened so quickly,” she said. “The glass in the back

window went flying. There was so much noise.”

The first car at the intersection was being driven by J.G. Francis

of Costa Mesa.

“I was completely shocked,” he said. “It was so sudden.”

Francis said he tried to help the man in the Expedition.

“His face was covered in blood and a couple of his teeth were

knocked out,” he said. “He was unconscious for a bit, but when he

came to, he started screaming and kept screaming till they came and

got him.”

The crash is under investigation.

Kitaen court hearing postponed

A court hearing for Tawny Kitaen, estranged wife of former Angels

pitcher Chuck Finley, was postponed from Wednesday to Oct. 9.

A judge will determine at that hearing next week if the actress

has met the requirements of her plea deal on a domestic violence case

against Finley in which she agreed to go through anger management

without admitting any wrongdoing or getting probation.

Newport Beach police had responded to a 911 hang-up call at the

couple’s Newport Coast home the night of April 1, 2002. Officials

said they found cuts and bruises on Finley’s arms and face that they

believe were caused by his wife.

Kitaen reportedly got into an argument with her husband while they

were driving home from dinner, kicked him with her high-heeled shoes,

scratched him on the face and pulled his ear, police officials said.

Finley filed divorce papers three days after that altercation,

asking the court to dissolve their four-year marriage based on

“irreconcilable differences.”

Appeal in baseball case dismissed

An Orange County Superior Court judge on Wednesday dismissed an

appeal filed by a Newport Beach parent who accused Corona del Mar

High School’s baseball coach John Emme of ruining his son’s chances

to get a college scholarship.

The judge dismissed the appeal because Marc Martinez did not pay

the mandatory filing fee, according to court papers.

Martinez alleged that his son, J.D., was subjected to public

humiliation and ridicule in a December 2001 story that ran in the

Daily Pilot, and he accused the newspaper and its present sports

editor, Richard Dunn, of libel, saying that they published the

coach’s comments knowing that they were false and libelous.

Martinez’s claims against Emme and the Pilot have been dismissed.

Martinez was also ordered to pay Emme’s attorney’s fees. The Pilot is

seeking similar damages from Martinez.