Early Friday morning, a suspected DUI driver caused significant damage to a Westchester bookstore after crashing into the establishment and subsequently setting their vehicle ablaze, FOXLA reported. The incident took place around 1:15 a.m. at The Book Jewel, located at 6259 W. 87th Street, near the intersection with Sepulveda Boulevard and Manchester Avenue.
The Los Angeles Police Department indicated that the driver reversed out of the store after the collision, and the car caught fire in the parking lot, as shown in a video from the Citizen App, though no injuries were reported and the fire did not damage the business itself.
Authorities apprehended the driver at the scene, suspecting impairment, and placed them in custody, as NBC Los Angeles outlined.
Karen Dial, the owner of The Book Jewel, expressed on the company's website her vision of the establishment as a "gathering place for the community," but now she faces a massive cleanup and restoration effort because of this incident, despite having planned celebrations for Independent Bookstore Day and an event featuring female authors over 50 years old.
The story developed further as NBC Los Angeles shared that there appeared to be no witnesses to the crash itself, so authorities are looking to the surrounding business surveillance for further clues.
