2 Children Killed as Car Plows Into Preschoolers

COSTA MESA — A Cadillac driven by a Santa Ana man carved a swath of destruction through a playground filled with preschoolers Monday evening, killing two children and injuring at least five other people in what police believe was an intentional act of revenge against the school.

The car smashed through the Southcoast Early Childhood Learning Center shortly after 5 p.m., turning a yard filled with more than 40 playing children into a field of shrieking boys and girls.

“We believe that he intentionally ran into the playground,” said Lt. Ron Smith of the Costa Mesa Police Department. “It looked like he made a deliberate turn into the playground, striking seven people. . . . We don’t know what his reasons were. There may be an indication that something went on there between him and the people who worked there about four to five years ago.”

Police said they found the driver, Steve Allen Abrams, 39, in a stupor, still behind the wheel of his car. Abrams, who worked for a ticket agency a few blocks from the preschool, was being held on two counts of murder.

Officers took Abrams away in handcuffs, whisking him past a horrified mob of neighbors, parents and workers from a nearby church who jeered and cursed him.

The two dead children were identified as Sierra Sota, 4, and Brandon Wiener, 3.

Injured were students Victoria Sherman, 5, who was listed in critical condition; Nicholas McHardy, 2, also in critical condition; and two others who suffered minor injuries, Jasmine Saltzman, 2, and Ian Wright, 3. A teacher, Danielle Diaz-Knecht, 24, also was injured, but her condition was not listed.

Witnesses told police that Abrams accelerated into the schoolyard at 35 to 40 mph, crashing through the fence and into a tree, trapping two boys and a girl underneath his 1967 Cadillac.

Police found no skid marks or indication that Abrams tried to stop.

“When he was arrested, he didn’t express any remorse, and he didn’t say anything about it being an accident,” Smith said.

Police said they did not know the nature of the possible dispute between Abrams and the preschool, but said they did not believe he currently had a child at the center. One preschool worker said the dispute was with the previous owner of the center, but offered no other details. There were no signs of alcohol or drug use by Abrams, police said.

Shortly before the incident, Abrams had been involved in a hit-and-run accident on the Costa Mesa Freeway, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Abrams and a female passenger were driving northbound near MacArthur Boulevard at 4:35 p.m. when Abrams rammed the rear of a car in front of him and then sped away, authorities said. One occupant in the car he hit suffered minor injuries, officials said.

Abrams’ Cadillac was spotted near the preschool about half an hour later. Witnesses said he drove past the playground, made a U-turn, then crashed through the fence.

A boy and girl trapped beneath the Cadillac were fatally injured. Sierra Sota was pronounced dead at the scene and Brandon Wiener died at 7 p.m. at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, police and hospital officials said.

Neighbors sprinted onto the playground in response to screams, attempting futilely to lift the car off the children.

“You feel so helpless because you can’t pull them out.” said Adam Brown, a youth pastor from the Lighthouse Coastal Community Church, across the street from the school at 300 Magnolia St.

A while later, Randi Rubenstein was sitting on the steps of Hoag Hospital, clutching her 2-year-old daughter, who had been narrowly missed by the car.

“Thank God she’s OK,” the mother kept saying, rocking her girl back and forth.

Rubenstein had reached the school minutes after the crash. The playground was in chaos.

Rubenstein said she spotted her daughter, who was uninjured, next to teacher Diaz-Knecht, who was lying face-down on the ground and bleeding. The teacher appeared to be in shock. “I knew she was in terrible pain, but she kept saying, ‘Are the kids OK? Are the kids OK?’ Rubenstein said.

One witness who was driving by the school said he watched Abrams accelerate through the fence.

“The guy never stopped. It was full bore--full bore,” said Jack Popov, 40, of Costa Mesa, who was driving down the same street.

Popov and a handful of others grabbed a car jack to try to lift the car off the three trapped preschoolers, but abandoned the effort because they feared injuring the children further.

Popov said Abrams appeared to be slumped over the wheel seconds before his car flew into the playground--offering a scenario that may contradict police suspicions that Abrams planned the crash.

In Santa Ana, Abrams’ neighbor, Leroy Montoya, said the suspect was a friendly and familiar face.

Of the police scenario, Montoya said: “I can’t believe that. He loves that car. . . . He doesn’t drink or anything. . . . It was an accident.”

Times staff writers Elaine Gale, Jeff Gottlieb, Karen Alexander, Seema Mehta, Matthew Ebnet, Eleanor Yang, Kate Folmar and Daniel Yi contributed to this story.