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Multiple victims, including an infant and unborn child, were killed and injured in a multivehicle collision in South LA. | Photo courtesy of NBC Palm Springs
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A memorial of balloons and flowers grew Friday in Windsor Hills at the scene of a fiery crash that killed six people, including an infant and pregnant woman, while investigators continued working to learn why a Mercedes-Benz driver plowed through the intersection at high speed, showing no signs of attempting to stop for a red light.
The coroner’s office on Friday identified one of the crash victims as 23-year-old Asherey Ryan of Los Angeles. Coroner’s office officials could not immediately confirm reports that Ryan was the pregnant woman killed in the horrific crash that occurred just before 1:40 p.m. Thursday at La Brea and Slauson avenues, near Ladera Park.
Dramatic surveillance video from the scene shows the Mercedes driver — described as a 40-year-old woman — plowing through the 35 mph zone on La Brea at speeds authorities estimate topped 100 mph — speeding through a red light at Slauson and broad-siding a vehicle. The crash ignited an inferno as the sedan struck by the Mercedes was pushed into other vehicles, which wound up against a gas station sign on the corner. A trail of fire was left burning in the intersection as the vehicles struck by the speeding driver were engulfed in flames.
As many as six vehicles were involved in the chain-reaction crash, with the heavily damaged Mercedes ending up near a bench down the street. The driver survived.
The fire department and the California Highway Patrol reported three adults and one infant died in the collision, and that there were multiple ejections due to the crash. The pregnant woman killed in the crash also lost her baby, and the male fetus was being counted among the deceased.
The CHP reported a sixth victim was later found dead in the burned wreckage of one vehicle, but further information about that person was not immediately available. At least eight other people were injured in the collision, though the extent of their injuries was not immediately known.
A media report from the scene Friday morning suggested all of the people injured in the crash have been released from hospitals — except for the Mercedes driver, who was being treated at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center for major injuries, according to the CHP. According to NBC4, she is a travel nurse and was being interviewed by the CHP.
Her name was not released.
Community activists gathered at the intersection Friday, adding to a growing memorial for the victims of the crash.
“This is a catastrophic situation that has taken place in our community,” activist Eddie Jones told reporters. “I cried all night, because someone innocent who did not deserve to lose their life, lost their life.”
Veronica Esquivel, 40, told the Daily News she was about to pump gas at one of the intersection’s four stations when the crash occurred.
“I heard the collision. I saw the fire … you see the fire at a gas station I just immediately thought explosion,” Esquivel said. “I saw things flying in the air … I didn’t know if something was going to come through and hit me.”
The intersection of La Brea and Slauson avenues reopened around 3:30 a.m. Friday.
