Teen driver in fatal O.C. crash identified, others critically injured

Officials Wednesday released the name of a 16-year-old driver killed in a crash in Dana Point that left several other teens injured.

The victim was identified as Rebecca Cespedes of Dana Point, according to Sgt. Gerard McCann of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. She was behind the wheel of a pickup truck that slammed into a tree shortly before noon Tuesday on Dana Point Harbor Drive near Island Way, McCann said.

The driver was pronounced dead at the scene and her five passengers — all of them students at Dana Hills High School — were taken to an area hospital, McCann said.

A girl and two boys were hospitalized in critical condition. Two other teens, a boy and a girl, sustained minor injuries, McCann said.