Two Goleta residents were killed and two others critically injured early Sunday morning when their southbound sedan collided head-on with a midsize SUV that was traveling the wrong way on Highway 101 in Goleta.

According to the California Highway Patrol, Richard L. Rodriguez, 20, of Tustin was driving under the influence of alcohol when his 2003 Mitsubishi Montero, northbound in the southbound lanes about 1:15 a.m., collided with a 2000 Honda Accord just south of the Glenn Annie-Storke Road interchange.

Macrina M. Ocampo, 58, who was riding in the front seat of the Honda, died at the scene. Its driver, 18-year-old Marcos A. Arredondo, died later at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.

A 16-year-old girl in the Honda's back seat suffered traumatic head injury and numerous broken bones, CHP said, and the other back-seat passenger, a 15-year-old girl, suffered traumatic head injury and multiple spine fractures. They were taken to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.

Rodriguez suffered scrapes to his face, hands and feet, according to the CHP, and was arrested after he was treated at the hospital. He was booked into jail with bail set at $100,000.

CHP did not release the names of the teenage passengers because they are juveniles, but did say that the parents of the girls and Arredondo were driving in a car just ahead of the Honda as the two vehicles were returning to Goleta from Lompoc.

The parents' vehicle was able to swerve out of the way of the oncoming SUV before the Mitsubishi collided with the Honda that was following them, according to the CHP.

Firefighters needed hydraulic tools to extricate all five people from the two vehicles involved in the collision, according to a Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman.

The southbound lanes of the freeway were closed between Storke and Los Carneros roads until 6 a.m. while CHP officers investigated.

November 9, 2009