GIRL, 13, ARRESTED IN CRASH DEATHS OF 2

Victims were homeless men asleep in bushes when they were struck

A 13-year-old girl who authorities said ran over and killed two homeless men last month when she crashed her mother’s SUV while trying to outrun police has been arrested, officials said.

The girl was booked Thursday into Juvenile Hall on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, evading police and felony hit-and-run, Escondido police said. They are not releasing her name because she is a minor.

The incident started about 11:20 p.m. Feb. 12, when an officer pulled over a Ford Explorer on East Mission Avenue for a suspected traffic violation, police Lt. Kevin Toth said last month.

What the officer did not know was that the driver was a 13-year-old girl who had sneaked off in her mom’s SUV, Toth said. A friend of the teen driver was in the passenger’s seat.

The officer had started to walk up to the car when the driver suddenly hit the accelerator and took off east down East Mission. A little more than a half mile down Ash Street, the driver turned left and lost control of the vehicle.

The SUV jumped the curb and slid into a planter in front of a fenced-off San Diego Gas & Electric transfer facility at Ash and East Mission.

Officers caught up to the SUV, arrested the two teen girls and discovered the victims, who had been asleep behind bushes near a block wall. Both of the men were described as homeless. One died at the scene. The other died at a hospital.

Authorities identified the men as Mateo Salvador, 33, and Sofio Sotelo Torres, 51.

The teens were released to their families while authorities investigated.