Driver in Doubt in Fatal O.C. Street Race
Orange County sheriff’s detectives Friday were investigating whether they arrested the wrong man after a fatal street race in Laguna Hills this week.
Deputies arrested 20-year-old Arya Asgarynejad on Tuesday on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, but they now think 20-year-old Mohsen Modjtahedi may have been the Mercedes-Benz driver who survived the race, sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said.
Parees Ghassemian, 18, was killed when he failed to negotiate a bend in La Paz Road and flipped his BMW during the 90-mph race. Two female passengers were badly injured.
When police arrived, Asgarynejad identified himself as the driver of the Mercedes-Benz. But in an interview with detectives Thursday, Modjtahedi told authorities he had been behind the wheel, Amormino said.
Modjtahedi said Asgarynejad was a passenger but lied to detectives that he was the driver to cover for Modjtahedi, who had a suspended license, Amormino said.
Amormino said investigators had not decided whether to drop charges against Asgarynejad or to arrest Modjtahedi.
“We have a couple more witnesses that we have to speak with; we have the physical evidence that we have to process,” he said.
Asgarynejad is free on $100,000 bond.
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