Car crash survivor arrested

A Costa Mesa man, Jose Gustavo Castillo, has been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and three counts of vehicular manslaughter in connection with a multiple-vehicle car crash Friday night, Watch Commander Keith Davis of the Costa Mesa Police Department said.

Three Costa Mesa men involved in a multiple-vehicle car crash Friday at 8:48 p.m. were pronounced dead at the scene.

All died as a result of the accident, Coroner Larry Esslinger said.

The fourth victim, Castillo, is still being treated for critical injuries at Western Medical Center, Davis said.

Juan A. Romero-Figueroa, 18; Julio Sandoval-Telles, 21; and Francisco Rodriguez, 19, were all passengers in Castillo’s car, police said.

Castillo was headed westbound at a high speed on Victoria Street, but had not gotten to Canyon Drive before his Lincoln Town Car rear-ended a Chevy Malibu driven by Martha Albrecht, 55, a Huntington Beach resident, authorities said.

Castillo then hit a second driver’s Jeep Cherokee, then lost control and “slid across the roadway and struck” a light pole, authorities said.

Mary Pilstl, 48, a Huntington Beach resident, was the driver of the Jeep Cherokee.

The accident’s impact ejected two of the Town Car’s passengers; the passenger in the back seat was killed and is still unidentified.

Albrecht and Milstl were not injured, and no charges were filed against them, police said.

There had been earlier reports of one victim’s decapitation as a result of the accident.

“There was no decapitation,” Coroner Larry Esslinger said.

Any mention of a decapitation was the “result of officers looking at the injuries at the scene,” police said.

At press time, Castillo was still in “critical but stable” condition, authorities said.