Venice boardwalk crash victims describe rampage in court

LOS ANGELES

The video shows how fast the car was going as it raced through the boardwalk on Aug. 3. You can see a person side-swiped by the car and a woman holding onto the hood as the car speeds out of the picture.

Through an interpreter, Nancy Martinez, told the judge at the preliminary hearing that she's been confined to a wheelchair because of a fractured vertebrae she suffered during the ordeal.

Nathan Campbell is accused of plowing through the Venice boardwalk at a high rate of speed, killing an Italian woman on her honeymoon and injuring more than a dozen others.

Witness John Drolette described what he saw from his second-story hotel room balcony above the boardwalk.

"The vehicle, instead of going straight down the boardwalk to avoid hitting anyone. It went left, right, left right, zigzagging down the boardwalk, hitting people who had moved out of the way," said Drolette.

Mustafa Balci, a vendor, says he saw the car speeding toward him and then driving through his booth, hitting him and his wife. He says the impact knocked him to the ground and knocked his wife 8 feet away from their booth.

"I didn't see her when I opened my eyes. I called for her. I was afraid she was dead. I called out for her. She said she was alive," said Balci.

Kevin Salveson testified he was bike riding with his kids when he saw Campbell drive through the boardwalk. Salveson says Campbell was smiling.

"I saw that he didn't have any remorse on his face, like I might have expected. Instead, he was smiling like he enjoyed what he had just done," said Salveson.

Testimony will wrap up Wednesday morning, and then it will be up to the judge to decide if there is enough evidence for this case to go to trial.

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