Driver charged with manslaughter in Irvine crash that killed 5 teens

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The California Highway Patrol on Saturday announced the arrest of a teenager who has been booked on charges including five counts of gross vehicular manslaughter and driving without a license in connection with a 2014 crash in Irvine that killed five other teenagers.

Bradley Morales, who was 16 at the time of the Oct. 4, 2014 crash and its sole survivor, also was booked for failure to show proof of insurance, said CHP Officer Florentino Olivera.

Morales was taken into custody Saturday by CHP officers and booked into the Orange County Juvenile Detention Center.

The teenager, who suffered a serious head injury in the crash, told paramedics after the crash that the group was heading home after a night at Knott's Halloween Haunt in Buena Park.

Investigators said the teens were traveling south in a white 1995 BMW on the Santa Ana (5) Freeway near the 133 Freeway interchange at about 2:10 a.m. when their sedan veered off the roadway and hit a guardrail.

The car then continued up an embankment and came to a rest on a concrete retaining wall, where it became engulfed in flames, the CHP said. The fatalities ranged in age from 14 to 16.

"Our investigators took a great deal of time and painstakingly went over this case to ensure a thorough and comprehensive investigation was completed," said CHP Santa Ana area commander Capt. R. Shackleford.

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