DRIVER, 18, FATALLY INJURED IN FIERY STREET-RACING CRASH SECOND MOTORIST ARRESTED AFTER SUMMONING POLICE.

Byline: Jason Kandel Staff Writer

WOODLAND HILLS - Just one day before his 19th birthday, a Van Nuys man was fatally injured during a street race early Wednesday when he lost control of his car, which slammed into a tree and ricocheted off two parked cars that burst into flames.

Aram Aleksanyan, who worked at Fry's Electronics in Woodland Hills, was involved in the crash on Victory Boulevard near Friar Street. Police officers pulled him out of his mangled Acura Legend as flames closed in around his car.

He was taken to an area hospital where he died about 2 a.m.

The crash saddened and frustrated local law enforcement officials, who have been working diligently to halt the rising trend of traffic fatalities in the Valley.

``Here again we've had another senseless death on the streets of the San Fernando Valley,'' said LAPD Deputy Chief Ronald Bergmann, who heads the Valley Bureau. ``When is it going to stop? People need to drive like their life depends on it because it does.''

The man who was racing Aleksanyan, Louis Blaine Rodgers, 24, of Reseda, stopped his car after the crash, went back to the scene and summoned police from his cell phone. Rodgers had been drinking at a Woodland Hills eatery just before the crash, said Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Greg Meyer, who supervises the Valley Traffic Division.

Rodgers was booked into the Van Nuys Jail on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and driving under the influence. His bail was set at $100,000.

Police believe that the men, who did not know each other, began racing at the intersection of Victory Boulevard and Mason Avenue, heading east at 70 mph through a narrow S-curve at Topham Street where Aleksanyan lost control of his vehicle.

Residents ran to the fiery scene and Kima Eslami, 40, grabbed his digital video camera.

``Fire was very close,'' said Eslami, who dropped his camera to help when he realized someone was inside the wreckage. ``Nobody could get close to the car. We were trying to help him, but we could not take him out. We waited for the LAPD.''

Officials used the death as a rallying cry for additional traffic patrols in the Valley, which historically outpaces the rest of the city in traffic crashes because of its long, straight streets.

And while police have effectively cracked down on organized street racing events, in which hundreds of spectators come to watch, they acknowledge that spontaneous racing events are difficult to police.

``They meet at a red light. They eyeball each other. They gun their engines. They go for it,'' Meyer said. ``Sometimes there's a police officer around. We catch one or both of them. We put them in jail, and we take away their car for at least 30 days.''

City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel sponsored legislation that seizes the cars of racers and cites race spectators, but it has little effect over spontaneous races.

``We've made a big change in organized street racing,'' she said. ``But today we're sending another message: One foolish choice and you will not only lose your car, you will lose your life.''

Wednesday's incident was the first death related to street racing in Los Angeles since last June when four people died in three crashes over a three-week period after the movie ``Too Fast Too Furious'' came out.

On Monday, two 17-year-old boys were injured in a street race in the Orange County community of Laguna Niguel. One remains in extremely critical condition.

Overall, traffic-related deaths in the Valley have jumped 8 percent, totaling 65 so far this year, compared with 57 in the same period last year.

Aleksanyan had worked as a clerk in the computer accessories department at Fry's in Woodland Hills since April. He would have turned 19 today.

Fry's spokesman Manuel Valerio said the company was saddened by the loss, and for the associates he worked closely with in Woodland Hills.

``We extend our sympathies to his family,'' Valerio said.

``We are saddened that anyone would die like this at such a young age, and so tragically.''

City Councilman Dennis Zine, who represents the West Valley area, expressed frustration at the latest traffic-related death, and vowed to make a motion next week at a City Council meeting to ask Chief William Bratton for more traffic officers to be deployed to the Valley.

``There's no winners in this,'' Zine said. ``The families are going to be losing. Law enforcement suffers another casualty. Our condolences to the family.''

Jason Kandel, [phone]

jason.kandel(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

A frame from a video shows LAPD officers pulling out the driver from his vehicle that was surrounded by flames.

Kima Eslami/Special to the Daily News