4th Katella Student Dies After Desert Car Crash : Tragedy: Shocked loved ones try to piece together events surrounding crash of vehicle carrying eight O.C. teen-agers. A 17-year-old is suspected of driving under the influence and vehicular manslaughter.

By DAVID HALDANE and SARAH KLEIN

July 31, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

SAN BERNARDINO — A fourth Anaheim teen-ager died here Sunday from injuries suffered when the car he was riding in with seven friends overturned on a desert road near Victorville early Saturday.

Tony Fuentes, 17, died about 1 p.m. at San Bernardino Medical Center without regaining consciousness.

“He had many big problems when he was brought in,” said Sandy Steele, the hospital’s nursing supervisor. “He was on a respirator with chest tubes and he died of cardiac and respiratory failure.”

Steele said that the boy’s parents were with him when he died.

At other San Bernardino County hospitals and at homes in Orange County, meanwhile, stunned parents and friends were distraught over the accident that killed four popular Katella High School students and injured three of their companions.

The 17-year-old driver is in custody under suspicion of driving under the influence and vehicular manslaughter, according to a California Highway Patrol spokeswoman.

“We don’t know what happened,” said William Thorton, whose son, John Thorton, 18, died in the crash. “I haven’t really tried to find out what the facts are yet; I’m just trying to cope with everyday life.”

A woman identifying herself as the mother of Steven Cass, who is in stable condition at Victor Valley Community Hospital, said that her 17-year-old son had not been able to tell much about what happened.

“He’s told me a little bit,” she said, “but he doesn’t remember very much.”

According to police, the accident occurred about 6:20 a.m. Saturday as the boys were returning home in a 1987 Chevy Suburban from an overnight camping trip in the desert near Apple Valley.

Somehow, the driver lost control of the car on an unpaved road, causing the vehicle to flip over several times and eject five of the seven passengers, said Analee Sallard, the California Highway Patrol officer who first arrived at the scene.

“It’s a dirt road and he was driving at an unsafe speed,” Sallard said, adding that the crash is still under investigation.

She said that the driver of the car, a 17-year-old Katella High School student who suffered only minor injuries, was arrested and taken to San Bernardino County Juvenile Hall. A spokesman for the San Bernardino County Probation Department would not discuss the case because of the boy’s age.

A woman answering the telephone at the young driver’s residence would say only that the boy’s parents had gone to see him and would not be back until late.

Other parents, meanwhile, were wondering Sunday about what they could have done to prevent the tragedy.

“There is no amount of pounding it into kids,” said Cindy Bender whose son, Steven, 18, was killed in the accident. “They can write a notebook filled with ‘I shall not, I shall not,’ and then they get behind the wheel and do it.”

Fred Curtis, father of Jonothan Croweagle Fabbro Curtis, 16, who also died, expressed similar sentiments. “You wonder,” he said. “It’s hard not to blame yourself, but you can’t always keep them locked in their bedroom. It’s been hard to make sense of it, but then life is such a mystery.”

J.M. Bischetsrieder, 17, Jonothan’s best friend, was shaken by the accident. He said that last Thursday, he was with his friend at a surfing exhibition in Huntington Beach. He was supposed to see him the next day too, but arrived just after Jonothan had left for the fatal camping trip.

Bischetsrieder sees a lesson for other teen-agers in the experience.

“Take your time,” he said. “Don’t speed, don’t drink, there’s no hurry. He was only 16. There’s a long life ahead of you if you play your cards right; there’s nothing cool about drinking and driving.”