Driver in deadly Los Angeles metro station crash is arrested on DUI and murder counts
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The driver of a minivan that crashed outside a Los Angeles metro station, killing three women and critically injuring two more, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and three counts of murder, police said Wednesday.
Authorities said the driver was able to talk but appeared to be in shock after Tuesday's crash, which hit pedestrians and food vendors at a busy intersection in the North Hollywood neighborhood during the height of the evening commute.
Police identified the driver as Ihor Demianenko, 61, who lives in the Valley Village neighborhood. Demianenko was booked early Wednesday and his bail was set at a little over $6 million, records show. He was treated for minor injuries at a hospital, police said.
It wasn't immediately clear if Demianenko had a lawyer who might speak on his behalf. In California, drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol can be charged with murder under certain circumstances.
The case had not been presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office as of Wednesday afternoon, spokesperson Venusse Dunn said in an email.
The white Toyota Sienna was traveling at an “unsafe speed” at around 6 p.m. when it veered to the right, ran off the road and collided with a light, Los Angeles police said in a news release Wednesday. It came to rest under a food vendor’s tent.
The force of the collision threw victims in different directions, according to the news release. The driver was trapped in the vehicle until rescuers arrived.
Luis Luna-Guzman was working at a nearby burger stand when he heard a loud boom and saw people on the ground along with food and cups. People started running toward the crash.
Luna-Guzman said he found an injured woman lying near some bike racks, her face, arms and legs bloody. Her eyes were closed as she moaned in pain.
“I told her, ‘Don’t move, help is coming,’” Luna-Guzman said, adding that he saw a woman’s body nearby, while another woman was lying unmoving on the stairs leading to the station.
The three women who died were between the ages of 40 and 60, according to the police news release. Authorities haven't released their names. The two injured women are in their 50s.
The minivan was still on the sidewalk Tuesday night under the food vendor’s tent, its driver’s-side door open and an air bag deployed. Fire engines and emergency crews worked nearby as a helicopter flew overhead.
Investigators will go through video of the crash frame by frame, Police Chief Jim McDonnell said.
“It will be probably a prolonged but a very deliberate investigation to determine what happened here,” he said.
The California Supreme Court ruled in 1981 that drivers who kill someone with a vehicle can be charged with second-degree murder if they are found to have acted with “wantonness and a conscious disregard for life” that could support a finding of implied malice. The court upheld a prosecutor's decision to file murder charges against a driver who was determined to be legally intoxicated at the time of a fatal crash and drove at high speeds, ran a red light and had a near miss right before.
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Thanawala reported from Atlanta.
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