Drag Race Leads To Three Deaths

Drag race leads

to three deaths

ST. HELENS, Ore.

A drag race late Wednesday night killed two teen-age boys as well as a woman who happened to be passing by in a car, police said.

Killed immediately were Stephen Gatlin and Todd Layton, both 17, and Rebecca Cernac, 24, all of St. Helens.

The impact of the crash sliced Gatlin's car in half.

Cernac's husband, Keith, 25, was flown to Oregon Health Sciences University, where he was listed in critical condition with a bruised heart and lungs.

The Cernacs have two sons, ages 2 weeks and 18 months.

Gatlin and Layton were in a car eastbound on Sykes Road in an apparent race with a 16-year-old driver and his 15-year-old passenger, according to the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.

Both cars were speeding, and Gatlin lost control, striking a curb at about 60 mph and turning sideways in front of the westbound Cernac car traveling at 40 mph, said Deputy Larry Knowles.

Times staff, news services