CHILDREN'S JOY RIDE ENDS IN 2 DEATHS.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

A car in which five children, 12 to 14, joy rode and crashed Saturday had been stolen from a parking lot at Challenger Middle School, officials said Sunday.

Los Angeles County coroner's officials identified the two boys killed in the crash as Joseph Napoli, 12, and Tiodoro Castillo, 13, both from the Lake Los Angeles area. The names of the other children were not released.

A 14-year-old boy suffered injuries including arm and leg fractures in the crash Saturday morning on Avenue Q east of 110th Street East. Another 14-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl escaped with minor injuries, California Highway Patrol officials said.

CHP officials were still investigating who was driving the Mercury Sable sedan. The survivors tell conflicting stories about who was driving, CHP Officer Victor Ruiz said.

``They've given me three different drivers,'' Ruiz said.

Ruiz said two of the boys had been serving Saturday detention at Challenger Middle School and were among four boys sent to get a table out of a teacher's pickup truck in the school parking lot.

The boys spotted keys to the Mercury owned by another teacher. The keys were either in the door or lying on the pavement, Ruiz said.

Authorities are still investigating whether all four boys, including two who did not go along on the fatal joy ride, were involved in stealing the car, which was driven to the parking lot of a church next door to adjoining Wilsona Elementary School.

Those who took the car then walked back to Challenger Middle School, Ruiz said.

Later, when two of the boys were sent home early from detention for misbehaving, they had a friend's parent drop them off at the church, Ruiz said. From there, they rode around in the stolen car and picked up other children. He said they stopped at one house to take out the car radio.

The car was traveling along East Avenue Q, a dirt road, when it swerved out of control, rolled and ejected at least three of its passengers, CHP officials said.

The children were on their way to get themselves doughnuts, ``and the next thing, they're flipping,'' Ruiz said.

The boy and the girl with minor injuries ran a mile to Littlerock High School and called authorities. When they arrived, sheriff's deputies and firefighters found two boys dead at the crash scene, and a third boy was taken to Children's Hospital Los Angeles, where he was in serious condition, Ruiz said.