Venice Beach hit-and-run driver kills one and injures 11 on boardwalk

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/04/venice-beach-boardwalk-hit-and-run

We need to ban cars now

Venice Beach hit-and-run driver kills one and injures 11 on boardwalk
Man being questioned by police in Los Angeles after car ploughs through pedestrian-only boardwalk packed with revellers
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Associated Press in Los Angeles
The Guardian, Sunday 4 August 2013 07.36 EDT

Link to video: Venice Boardwalk hit-and-run crash - CCTV video
One person was killed and 11 injured when a hit-and-run driver ploughed into a pavement packed with hundreds of seaside revellers on the Venice Beach boardwalk in Los Angeles. The victim, an Italian woman on her honeymoon, died in hospital a few hours after the Saturday evening crash, police lieutenant Andy Neiman said.

Security video shows the man parking his black car alongside the seaside boardwalk, surveying the scene, then getting back into the car and speeding into the crowd. It shows hundreds of people walking slowly or sitting at cafes before the car suddenly appears and sends them scrambling for safety.

The aftermath of the Venice Beach rampage
The aftermath of the Venice Beach rampage Photograph: Handout/Reuters
"There were people kind of stumbling around, blood dripping down their legs looking confused not knowing what had happened; people screaming," said 35-year-old Louisa Hodge. She said people were "strewn across the sidewalk''.

Firefighters took the injured to hospital. Another victim was in a critical condition, two were serious condition and the remaining eight had minor injuries, a city fire spokesman said. The Italian woman was identified as Alice Gruppioni, 32.

Police on Sunday said they had arrested a man on suspicion of murder. Nathan Louis Campbell, 38, was held after he walked into a police station in neighbouring Santa Monica about two hours after the incident and told police he was involved.

Campbell, of Los Angeles, remained jailed on Sunday on $1m bail.

Deputy chief Kirk Albanese declined to discuss a motive but said there was no indication that the attack was a terrorist act or that anyone else was involved.

The aftermath of the Venice Beach rampage.
The aftermath of the Venice Beach rampage. Photograph: Alex Thompson/AP
According to the security video and witness accounts, the man – wearing a baseball cap, grey shirt and white trousers – parked next to the Cadillac Hotel, twice walking to the boardwalk before getting into the Dodge Avenger and accelerating, swerving around yellow poles meant to prevent cars from getting into the pedestrian-only area and onto the boardwalk.

"I heard a big 'boom, boom' like the sound of someone going up and down the curb, it was super loud," said Alex Hagan, 22, who was working the desk at the Cadillac Hotel and watched the scene unfold.

The man knocked over two mannequins then started hitting people, swerving from side to side. Couples, families and children who had been sitting at cafes, shopping and ambling along in shorts and sandals were sent into a mad scramble scrambled to get out of the way and to help those who were hit. The car struck at least three vendors who were sitting at their booths, video showed. It also hit two women who appeared to be in their 60s, Hagan said. Many ran after the car, screaming and cursing as it sped away.

Hodge said she and her friend, Ashley Taylor, 31, noted the registration number. "It was a really nice day, there were tons of people out, in fact, we were talking about how packed it was, because we were having a hard time getting through all the people," said Hodge. They went into a store to buy hats, a move that might have saved their lives, and stepped out to see the aftermath, as emergency crews arrived and started putting victims on tarpaulins.

Hodge saw one man and woman lying next to each other, wearing head braces and barely able to move.

"They were just laying next to each other and grasping hands," Hodge said. "Just a man and a woman holding hands."

Hours later police were surveying the same stretch of ground for evidence.

The Venice boardwalk runs 2.4km (1.5 miles) along a few hundred metres from the ocean, home to galleries, restaurants, tattoo shops, skateboard parks and the famous outdoor weight room known as Muscle Beach. It can draw up to 150,000 people on summer weekends.

Edited August 7, 2013 by The conciliator

[Jacque67 7,328]

The car was black I notice.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

The car was black I notice.

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