LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The widow and daughter of a man killed in Garden Grove in March after the car he was driving to work was struck by a truck whose occupants were fleeing police are suing the estates of the two men in the other vehicle -- who also died in the crash -- as well as that vehicle's owner.
Stefanie Clugston, the widow of 39-year-old Michael Clugston of Anaheim, and her daughter brought the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit Tuesday against the estates of Sal Tony Fernandez and Joseph Mendoza, as well as Michael Zwa Tun, identified in the complaint as the owner of the 2019 Dodge Ram.
The plaintiffs have lost the love, comfort, companionship and support they had with Clugston and seek unspecified damages.
The collision occurred about 2:15 a.m. March 12 near the intersection of South Euclid Street and Orangewood Avenue. Garden Grove police said they saw the truck driving at high speed through a parking lot near Chapman Avenue and Harbor Boulevard, so officers tried to stop it as the driver continued west on Chapman Avenue.
The truck eventually crashed into Clugston's car as he was driving through the intersection at Euclid and Orangewood, causing the car to overturn, police said. The pickup truck then sheared a hydrant and crashed through a wall before landing in a swimming pool, according to police.
Fernandez and Mendoza died at the scene and Clugston died later at a hospital, police said.
According to the suit, Fernandez and Mendoza had been stealing catalytic converters from cars parked nearby prior to the chase. Tun negligently entrusted the truck to the two men, the suit states.
Representatives for Tun and for the estates of Fernandez and Mendoza could not be immediately reached.
Stefanie Clugston said previously that her husband was on his way to work when the collision occurred. He usually had Fridays off, but was working overtime because she lost her job the previous week, she said.
"I don't know how to go on without him," she said. "You were my rock. I'm glad we got some time together, I just wish it would have been longer."
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