Elderly Driver Plows Into Market

[RAMONES!!!]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2003Jul16.html
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Elderly Driver Plows Into Market, 8 Dead

The Associated Press
Wednesday, July 16, 2003; 7:10 PM


SANTA MONICA, Calif. - A car driven by an elderly man plowed through a crowded farmers market Wednesday, killing eight people including a 2-year-old girl and injuring at least 35 others.

The driver, who was in his 80s, was being interviewed by officers and treated for unspecified injuries, said Police Chief James T Butts Jr. The man was not identified.

Butts said that besides the eight deaths, 14 victims were critically injured and 21 or 22 had moderate or light injuries. He called the tragedy "the single most devastating scene I have seen."

Witnesses said victims were hurled through the air as the car, running down a street closed for the once-a-week market, smashed through market tents and boxes of produce.

"Sixty miles per hour and it wasn't slowing down. It was flying. And then people down, dead and everything," said David Lang, manager of a shoe store along the market route.

"I heard a car just hit, bang, bang, bang," said Mojgan Pour, 38. "I heard people screaming. By the time I looked, I never even saw the car. I tried to help a man and he died while I was helping him."

The car was extensively damaged, including a smashed front end and windshield. What appeared to be shoes were on its roof.

David Allwas told KABC-TV by telephone that he was at a bank when the car plowed through the market.

"I mean there were people flying anywhere, I was shocked," Allwas said.

He said the driver of the car looked like he might be having a heart attack.

"His arm was straight on the wheel and his body was stiff," Allwas said.

He said he saw as many as 12 people bleeding and injured.

"I saw it right there, bam. I just missed it by a few seconds. And I was devastated, I couldn't breathe," Allwas said.

Ronald Gaba was working inside Acadie restaurant on Arizona Street when he heard screams from the sidewalk.

"During the time, there was a lot of crying," Gaba said. "I came outside and saw one body covered by a cloth. I can't describe what is happening, it's something I've never seen before."

The Wednesday market occupies two blocks along Arizona Avenue in the oceanside city, bisecting its popular Third Street pedestrian promenade. It draws thousands of shoppers.

The Los Angeles suburb is renowned for its sweeping beaches and grassy park atop a bluff overlooking the ocean and the Santa Monica Pier.

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very sad.

hal isnt this somewhere near you?

[Nefir]

That is just awful. Yet more reason to force people to get their road-readiness retested every few years, including health, eyesight, and actual driving skills. He had no business being behind the wheel in his state of health.

Its a shame so many had to get hurt.

[ninety09]

Driving at 86? err, that's just stupid.

[Kllr Wolf]

60 miles an hour through a crowded street surprised more were not killed or hurt

[laxative]

i bet he was laughing maniacally.

[Forsaken]

As soon as a person hits 65 they should have to have a yearly driving test which would include a test of reaction time that they MUST pass. I was just down at the DMV getting my liscense renewed and a man(he had to be close to 80 years old) was sitting in front of me filling out his paperwork and he could barely create a circle around the answers to the queations he was answering because his hands were shaking so bad. Along with that his wife had to explain ever question too him and tell him how to answer it. There is no way that this guy should have a drivers liscense. He will probably end up hurting or killing someone if he is on the road.

[Cynthetiq]

horrible... it was just a few blocks from the MTV LA offices, and some of my collegues go there for lunch.

glad that no one that I know was hurt.

[Sparhawk]

I want to know what kind of car it was.

[Daval]

Originally posted by Forsaken
As soon as a person hits 65 they should have to have a yearly driving test which would include a test of reaction time that they MUST pass. I was just down at the DMV getting my liscense renewed and a man(he had to be close to 80 years old) was sitting in front of me filling out his paperwork and he could barely create a circle around the answers to the queations he was answering because his hands were shaking so bad. Along with that his wife had to explain ever question too him and tell him how to answer it. There is no way that this guy should have a drivers liscense. He will probably end up hurting or killing someone if he is on the road.

I agree with you 100%, past 65 you should be tested EVERY year, and that includes a written and driving test.

My Grandfather, just before he died had quite severe alzheimers, yet they still renewed his drivers license twice! He got into two major accidents and many many near misses and they would still let him drive. We finally had to take the license and his car away for his and others safety. He was angry for quite a while but forgot soon enough with the alzheimers.

[Cynthetiq]

Market driver had recent accidents
MSNBC staff and wire reports


An 86-year-old man whose car plowed through a crowded farmers market, killing nine and injuring up to 45 others, had recently damaged his own garage with his car, police said Thursday.

POLICE SAID Russell Weller told them he may have hit the gas pedal instead of the brake Wednesday, hurling victims into the air as his car careened down a street closed to traffic.
"Mr. Weller and his family want to express their deepest sympathies to the victims and their families of the tragic accident earlier today," Weller family attorney Jim Bianco said in a statement Wednesday. "This was an unintentional and unfortunate accident."

Eight victims were pronounced dead at the scene and a ninth, a 50-year-old man, died later at a St. John's Hospital, spokeswoman Barbara Bishop said. Fourteen others were critically injured.

Weller was not arrested, but authorities were considering whether the case was "manslaughter of some type" and investigating whether he was qualified to drive, said Police Chief James T. Butts Jr.

"There may be some negligence as to his capacity to drive safely," Butts said, although he added that Weller, of Santa Monica, has a valid driver's license.

GARAGE IMPACTS SEEN
Police searching Weller's home for medications and evidence of his fitness to drive found that Weller recently "struck the back of his garage at least twice" with his car, Butts said Thursday on ABC's "Good Morning America." He didn't elaborate on how investigators knew Weller was to blame for the mishaps.

"Unless there's intent later proven, I think what we're going to find is we have an 86-year-old driver that may not have been as competent as he needed to be to drive," Butts said on the show. "So we're pursuing this as if it were a criminal act. But we're going to let the facts speak for themselves and we'll sort this out at the end."

Weller told police he was leaving a nearby post office and didn't realize until too late that the street was closed for the market, Butts said.

Weller was taken to a hospital for a blood test, and initial results found no traces of alcohol or psychoactive drugs such as antidepressants and hallucinogens.

Mary Roney, who has lived two doors down from Weller and his wife for 30 years, said he has never had any trouble driving and she did not know of any health problems.

'GENTLE, LOVING PERSON'
"A more careful, gentle, loving person you'll never find," said Roney, who described him as active in the community, including serving on a library board and tutoring students at Santa Monica High School.

Butts said he did not have an estimate of the car's speed. Witnesses said Weller's burgundy 1992 Buick sedan careered through the farmers' market for several blocks before coming to rest with a smashed windshield.

"Sixty miles per hour and it wasn't slowing down. It was flying. And then people down, dead and everything," said David Lang, manager of a shoe store along the market route.

"I heard a car just hit, bang, bang, bang," said Mojgan Pour, 38. "I heard people screaming. By the time I looked, I never even saw the car. I tried to help a man and he died while I was helping him."

Weller left police headquarters by late afternoon. Walking unsteadily with a cane, he hugged and smiled at people who picked him up from the police station. He declined to comment to a reporter.

The market, which takes place Wednesdays and Saturdays, bisects oceanside Santa Monica's popular Third Street pedestrian promenade and is near the famous Santa Monica Pier. It draws thousands of shoppers and was slated to close just as the incident occurred at 2 p.m.

The nine dead -- five women, three men and a 3-year-old girl -- were not identified. Police said 20 to 30 people had moderate or light injuries. They were taken to four hospitals by a fleet of ambulances and rescue helicopters.

Bahram Manahedgi, 50, said one person was on the hood of the car when it came to rest, and a woman was crushed beneath it.

Manahedgi said that when he went to pull the driver out, "I said, 'Do you know what the hell you did?' He said, 'No.' I just opened the door. I pulled him out."

A crowd gathered around the car and "wanted to beat him up," Manahedgi said. "I said, 'He's an old man, leave him alone.'"


Patrick Healy of NBC affiliate KNBC in Los Angeles,

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report

[tikki]

Just las week an 86 year old woman hit a 14 year old boy and killed him here. The accident wasn't entirely her fault (the kid jumped out in the road to avoid being spit on by his friend), but her actions afterwards are VERY questionable.

She drove away right after hitting him. No one would have known it was her that did it, until she went to a local glass company to get a new windshield. When the company saw there was hair and blood on the old windshield, they alerted the police.

We really need to have some sort of testing system in to place since all the baby boomers are about to invade the road as elderly people soon.

[punx1325]

Originally posted by Forsaken
As soon as a person hits 65 they should have to have a yearly driving test which would include a test of reaction time that they MUST pass. I was just down at the DMV getting my liscense renewed and a man(he had to be close to 80 years old) was sitting in front of me filling out his paperwork and he could barely create a circle around the answers to the queations he was answering because his hands were shaking so bad. Along with that his wife had to explain ever question too him and tell him how to answer it. There is no way that this guy should have a drivers liscense. He will probably end up hurting or killing someone if he is on the road.

I can't say it any better, As people get older their nerves begin to fatigue. I just can't believe more people weren't hurt.

[NetterButter]

sadly enough, he didn't even realized the catastrophe that he had caused, the damage he had done, and the lives he took. i live near santa monica, it was on our local news for several hours, they kept showing footage of the old man and he showed no remorse. he was definitely senile. i feel so fuckin sorry for all those innocent people. old people sometimes...i swear.

[Darthnapoleon]

it's sort of weird that this happened now. about 2 months ago, my gf and i were driving and an 84 year old man turned left, not yielding to oncoming traffic(me) and there was nothing i could do about it but hit him. Of course it's not my fault, and i appreciate how nice he was to us. Just thought i would add another example of older people driving. i agree, after 65, take a driving test every year.

[Brian Fellows]

Sad to hear, such a tragedy.