At least eight people were injured Saturday when a vehicle drove onto a sidewalk in the Arlington Heights community of Los Angeles, sending firefighters and paramedics rushing to the scene near Washington Boulevard. Patients were reported awake and alert as crews worked to assess the extent of their injuries.
Firefighters and paramedics were dispatched at 12:51 p.m. Saturday to 4040 W. Washington Blvd., according to MyNewsLA.com. The address sits a couple of blocks north of the Santa Monica (10) Freeway, placing the crash in a busy stretch of the neighborhood.
“Patients are being assessed by LAFD paramedics, and are reported to be awake and alert,” LAFD spokesperson Jennifer Middleton said, according to the outlet's report. Traffic in the area was expected to be delayed, with northbound traffic on 10th Avenue at 23rd Street slated to be shut down, per the same account.
What Remains Unknown
No further information was immediately available about the motorist or the nature of the accident, the report noted. Investigators have not released details on what led the vehicle onto the sidewalk or how the eight injured people are connected to one another.
The crash adds to a string of recent vehicle incidents in the Arlington Heights area. A separate case, reported by FOX 11 Los Angeles, described a deadly hit-and-run in which a driver struck two pedestrians and continued driving southbound — marking what the station called the second fatal hit-and-run crash in the area within 24 hours. Earlier that morning, 66-year-old Bibiana Retana-Sosa was struck and killed at 12th Avenue and Venice Boulevard, about half a mile from the Washington Boulevard scene, FOX 11 reported.
Scene Still Developing
As of Saturday afternoon, authorities had not released additional details tying Saturday's sidewalk crash to the earlier hit-and-run cases in the neighborhood. Updates on the condition of the eight people injured, along with any information about the driver involved, were not yet available.
