A minivan driver blew through a red light near 59th Street and Broadway in South Los Angeles Thursday morning, got clipped by another vehicle, and swerved straight into the side of a nearby business, sending the minivan entirely through the building's exterior wall. No one was hurt in the crash, but the building was left yellow-tagged and the driver was cited for driving without a license.
Los Angeles Police Department officers responded to reports of the collision at about 11:30 a.m. Thursday, according to KTLA. Officers arrived to find that two vehicles had collided, with the impact sending one of them crashing through the exterior wall of the business.
Surveillance footage reviewed by the outlet appeared to show the sequence of events in detail. The video shows the minivan driver running the red light before being clipped by a vehicle that had the right of way, then swerving left and striking the side of the building.
Minivan Ends Up Fully Inside the Building
The force of the crash was severe enough to push the minivan entirely inside the structure. Video posted to the Citizen app showed the vehicle sitting fully within the building, with debris scattered across the sidewalk outside, according to KTLA.
The other vehicle involved, a white SUV, also sustained damage. Its airbag deployed in the collision, and the front end of the car showed visible damage afterward. Despite the dramatic scene, no injuries were reported, including to the driver of the SUV.
Building Yellow-Tagged After Inspection
Personnel from the Los Angeles Fire Department and the city's Department of Building and Safety responded to the scene to assess the structural damage. The building was subsequently yellow-tagged, a designation that restricts how the property can be used going forward, as reported by KTLA.
A yellow tag is a restriction, not clearance for normal use: Los Angeles inspection guidance describes yellow placards as limiting entry, with access restricted while safety concerns remain. The precise limits depend on the inspection, so the tag alone does not establish which parts of this business can be entered or when it can reopen. The city’s placard guidance identifies yellow as “limited entry”.
Authorities cited the minivan driver for driving without a license, as noted by KTLA. No additional details about the crash, including the identities of either driver, were immediately available.
The unlicensed-driving citation concerns a separate legal requirement from the red-light allegation. California law generally bars driving on a public highway without a valid state license, subject to statutory exemptions; a driver facing a steady red signal must stop before entering the intersection and remain stopped until permitted to proceed. Those rules address different conduct, and the reported citation for lacking a license does not by itself establish whether the driver was also cited for running the light. California Vehicle Code section 12500 and section 21453 set out the requirements.
