6 people injured after driver crashes through street carnival in South Los Angeles, police say

Video shows people running to safety as sirens went off.

Leanne Suter Image
Saturday, November 12, 2022
Video shows chaotic scene after driver crashes through carnival in LA
Video obtained by Eyewitness News showed several people running to safety. All six patients were rushed to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said.

SOUTH LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- At least six people were injured after a driver crashed through a street carnival in South Los Angeles Saturday night.

The incident was reported at around 8 p.m. in the 3000 block of South Trinity Street near Martin Luther King Boulevard.

According to police, officers tried to pull over the driver of a white Porsche Cayenne, but he refused to stop. That's when he continued driving, plowing through a cement rail and into the carnival setup on the street.

The driver, who has not yet been identified, struck at least six people, who are all between all between 30 and 50 years old, according to police.

"It was kind of upsetting because he hit a couple of my guards," said one witness. "He actually gave one of the guards a concussion and broke his leg. It shouldn't have happened, man."

Video obtained by Eyewitness News showed several people running to safety. All six patients were rushed to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said.

Police said officers found the suspect's vehicle a few blocks away and a person of interest has been detained.

"It looks like he tried to get out of the fair, but because of the barricades, he was unable to get out of the fair so he continued westbound MLK, continuing through the crowd of people, which we estimate was between a thousand to 2,000 people," said Sgt. Robert Leary with LAPD.

Given how busy the street fair was, Leary said the outcome could've been much worse.

"It is a blessing that no one actually got severely injured," he said. "I think that they heard the car, I'm not sure if he was honking, obviously people were screaming. It was quite hectic, so I think people saw this car coming in and thankfully they got out of the way in time."

It's unclear if the driver of the Cayenne was under the influence of some sort of substance or alcohol. The incident remains under investigation.