12 year-old Vivian Nguyen killed during pursuit in Westminster

By Matt Coker, OC Weekly

A “career criminal” faces murder and assault with a deadly weapon charge after a police pursuit ended with a collision that killed a 12-year-old girl in Westminster Thursday evening.

Aleksandar Apostoloic, 26, of Santa Ana, was captured early today, about six hours after his modified black Chevy Suburban struck a Toyota van and another vehicle in the intersection of Trask Avenue and Hoover Street, Westminster Police said. Image taken from video by KABC 

Aleksandar Apostoloic, 26, of Santa Ana, was captured early today, about six hours after his modified black Chevy Suburban struck a Toyota van and another vehicle in the intersection of Trask Avenue and Hoover Street, Westminster Police said.

Apostoloic, who had previously been sought on firearms and drug offenses and fit the description of someone police were looking for, was spotted driving his Suburban by an officer who tried to pull him over around 6 p.m. Thursday, according to Westminster Police Sgt. Cameron Knauerhaze.

According to Knauerhaze’s account carried by City News Service: The Suburban rammed into the front of the police car, injuring the officer who was briefly hospitalized, before taking off eastbound on Olive Street at high speeds. A witness later estimated the Suburban was going up to perhaps 90 mph when it entered the busy Trask and Hoover intersection and struck the Toyota van, which was carrying a woman and her two children, and another vehicle.

Vivian Nguyen, the 12-year-old in the Toyota, was pronounced dead at UCI Medical Center in Orange. Her mom and 13-year-old brother were injured but their conditions have not yet been released.

Read the full story by Matt Coker from OC Weekly.