LOCAL : 2 Drivers Die in Valley Wrecks

Los Angeles police were investigating two single-car accidents in which two drivers were killed when their speeding cars went out of control and crashed, authorities said.

The first accident, in which a 32-year-old man was killed at 2 a.m. in Woodland Hills, occurred while a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy was attempting to catch up and stop the victim’s speeding car, LAPD Officer Richard Breidenthal said.

Deputy James Smith said he had been on patrol in Calabasas and was heading toward the Valley Circle Boulevard entrance to the Ventura Freeway when he saw a car exit the freeway at 70 m.p.h. and speed north on Valley Circle, Breidenthal said.

Smith turned on his patrol car’s emergency lights and followed the speeding car but lost sight of it when it went over a hill. When the patrol car came over the hill, Smith saw that the car had crashed into a utility pole at Ostronic Drive. The driver was identified as Scott C. Stevenson of Woodland Hills, who operated a chiropractic office in Calabasas.

About an hour later, another motorist was killed when his car struck a power pole near Van Nuys Airport, Breidenthal said. The 40-year-old North Hollywood man, whose name was not released, was driving west on Roscoe Boulevard at an estimated 70 m.p.h.