Three people were killed and several others seriously injured after a driver slammed into a crowded sidewalk outside a Los Angeles Metro station, striking pedestrians and longtime food vendors during the busy evening rush.
The devastating crash unfolded around 5:55 p.m. Tuesday, November 10, near the intersection of Lankershim and Chandler boulevards in North Hollywood.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, a white vehicle veered onto the sidewalk near the North Hollywood Metro station, plowing into people gathered around food stands popular with commuters.
The impact left three women dead at the scene and sent three others, including the driver, to the hospital.
Emergency crews rushed to the intersection, where they discovered a chaotic scene filled with debris, damaged vendor stalls, and injured pedestrians.
Aerial footage showed the badly damaged vehicle resting beneath a blue canopy near a Metro entrance as firefighters and police surrounded the area.
Authorities identified the driver as Ihor Demianenko, a Valley Village resident in his 60s, who was initially hospitalized following the crash.
In a significant development Wednesday morning, police arrested Demianenko on suspicion of three counts of murder after investigators determined he had been driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, according to CBS Los Angeles.
He was being held on more than $6 million bail.
Investigators believe Demianenko was attempting to avoid another vehicle that was traveling legally when he lost control and struck the pedestrians. Authorities are continuing to examine the circumstances surrounding the collision.
Among those killed were women who had reportedly spent years selling food near the busy transit station.
Witnesses told local reporters that the victims were familiar faces in the neighborhood, with one vendor having worked there for more than 15 years.
For the people who regularly stopped to buy food and drinks on their way home, the tragedy was especially devastating.
Noe Orozco, who routinely transported one of the vendors, arrived at the scene expecting to pick up his colleague. Instead, he discovered that the woman had been killed.
Another witness, Gian Barbarona, described narrowly escaping the vehicle as it barreled through the area.
“I felt the wind of the whoosh, of the wind, on my left shoulder,” he told ABC7.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said investigators are reviewing surveillance footage to reconstruct the moments leading up to the collision.
“It’ll be a prolonged but a very deliberate investigation to determine what happened here,” McDonnell told reporters.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass expressed condolences to the victims’ families, describing the incident as heartbreaking.
“I’m heartbroken for the families of everyone impacted,” Bass said.
The deadly collision temporarily shut down streets surrounding the Metro station while investigators examined the wreckage and gathered evidence.
The identities of the three women killed had not been publicly released as authorities worked to notify their relatives.
The investigation remains ongoing, and the allegations against Demianenko have not been proven in court.
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