LOS ANGELES — Three people were killed and others injured when a vehicle crashed into pedestrians near a Los Angeles transit stop Tuesday evening, officials said.
Los Angeles police said a white SUV struck at least five pedestrians at Lankershim and Chandler boulevards in the city’s North Hollywood neighborhood, where a Los Angeles Metro station is located, around 5:55 p.m.
Three died at the scene and three others were taken to hospital in critical condition, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.
The driver of the SUV, a man in his 60s, was among those injured, police Capt. Warner Castillo said. The department’s drug recognition experts were at the hospital to determine whether the driver was impaired, he said.
Police did not believe another vehicle was involved, Castillo said.
Deputy Fire Chief Joe Everett told reporters that an agency battalion chief came upon the accident around 6 p.m., “and what he found was a car that had hit a number of people on the sidewalk.”
All of those struck were on the sidewalk, Police Chief Jim McDonnell said. He said the investigation was still in its early stages.
Mayor Karen Bass said those affected were pedestrians and vendors. She said her office was coordinating with city departments and authorities to determine the cause of the accident.
“I am heartbroken for the families of everyone affected. We will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available,” Bass said.
Aerial video from NBC Los Angeles showed what appeared to be a white vehicle crashed into the side of the subway station, which is home to escalators and stairs leading down to the subway, as well as debris scattered around the area.
“It was a huge boom,” Lincoln Brown, who was walking away from the station at the time, told NBC Los Angeles.
“I was walking in the opposite direction, but I heard a loud noise behind me,” he said. “I turn around and see a car that crashed into the subway over there.”
A witness said two hot dog sellers were thrown into the air from the impact, the station reported.
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