High-Speed Pursuit Leads to Two Deaths

A suspected drunk driver crashed into a Boyle Heights food truck after a pursuit.

A suspected drunken driver fleeing CHP officers careened her car down an offramp, blew through a red light and crashed it into a crowd at a taco truck, killing two customers and leaving three people injured, a CHP officer said.

Speaking at the scene of the crash on Cesar E. Chavez Avenue, the mother of one dead woman said the speeding car ``tore her apart'' when it struck her.

The suspected drunken driver, a 37-year-old Upland woman whose name was withheld, had just exited the northbound Golden State (5) Freeway, with CHP officers trailing her, CHP Officer Patrick Kimball said.

The motorist was driving a gray 2005 Toyota Camry, according to a department report.

``The driver exited the freeway at Cesar Chavez Avenue and blew the red light at the intersection,'' Kimball said. ``She drove into a parking lot, where a food vending truck was set up, and crashed into the truck, striking three people outside the truck.''

Paramedics rushed the motorist to Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center for minor injuries and was eventually taken into custody on suspicion of drunken driving, ``with more serious charges to follow," he said.

The pursuit had started on the eastbound Santa Monica (10) Freeway near the Convention Center at about 11:20 p.m. Saturday, when a CHP officer saw a motorist he believed was intoxicated, Kimball said.

Local

Get Los Angeles's latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, COVID, cost of living and more. Here's your go-to source for today's LA news.

Tracking your vote in California: A step by step guide

Lyle and Erik Menendez ‘cautiously optimistic' about prosecutors' review, attorney says

The officer followed the car onto the northbound Golden State (5) Freeway, where the officer tried to make a stop, he said. The driver refused to pull over and sped off the at the Cesar Chavez offramp, in the middle of the East L.A. Interchange ramps.

A 39-year-old woman and a 19-year-old woman outside the truck were declared dead on the spot, Kimball said. A man outside the truck and two people inside it suffered minor injuries.

Follow NBCLA for the latest LA news, events and entertainment: iPhone/iPad App | Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | Instagram | RSS | Text Alerts | Email Alerts

Copyright City News Service
Contact Us