3 teenagers die, 1 injured after car crashes near Mesa intersection

PHOENIX – Three teenagers were killed and another injured Wednesday night in a single-car wreck on a rainy street in Mesa, authorities said.

Two of the four girls, the driver and front-seat passenger, died at the scene near Ellsworth and Guadalupe roads, the Mesa Police Department said. A passenger in the back seat died at the hospital while the other suffered minor injuries.

The four girls, ranging in age from 14 to 17, were found trapped inside a blue Mustang beneath a light pole after crashing around 9 p.m., police said.

The car was heading eastbound on Guadalupe Road when the driver changed lanes and lost control, going over the curb into a landscaped area, according to police.

The car struck a landscape boulder that then smashed into the light pole, causing it to fall over onto the vehicle.

Police said several callers reported the crash and that initially it was believed multiple vehicles were involved.

Preliminary evidence pointed to speed and weather as primary causes of the wreck, police said.

Two 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old died in the crash. The survivor, a 14-year-old girl, broke her arm in the wreck and remains in the hospital, Mesa police spokesperson Richard Encinas said during a press conference.

The intersection was closed for hours for the investigation.

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