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Koreatown crash: Car plows into homeless camp in LA, 4 hospitalized

The car crash was reported about 6 am after a vehicle entered the sidewalk at a high speed in the 500 block of South Virgil Avenue

Several people were injured after a car crashed into a large homeless encampment in Koreatown Los Angeles on Tuesday morning, September 7.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Nicholas Prange stated in a news alert that the incident was reported about 6 am after a vehicle entered the sidewalk at a high speed in the 500 block of South Virgil Avenue and plowed into a number of people. Emergency responders and paramedics initially identified a total of five patients, including one who was still trapped underneath the vehicle, according to Prange.

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An LAFD heavy rescue unit was summoned to the scene in order to help remove the vehicle and free the trapped victim. Prange stated in the update that a total of four patients were taken to the hospital, including one in moderate condition and three in fair condition. Meanwhile, the driver of the vehicle was yet to be identified at the time of writing and there was no immediate information on what may have caused the crash.

Last month, MEAWW reported how three promising hockey players, all between age 16 and 17, died in the early hours of August 21 following a fatal car accident. An investigation into what caused the deaths in the Fraser Heights area in British Columbia was underway. All three men were players associated with the Delta Hockey Academy.

Caleb Reimer, Ronin Sharma and Parker Magnuson lost their lives in the car crash near the 16000-block of 104th Avenue in British Columbia at 2.45 am on August 30. Police and fire crews rushed to the scene but the three boys were found dead by arriving officials. “Our team is still actively working to determine the events leading up to the collision,” said Surrey RCMP Cpl Vanessa Munn at the time, adding that an investigation into the incident was "still in its early stages" and they were working with at least one witness who was on the scene at the time the police arrived.

In June, we reported how a man accused of plowing his pickup truck into a group of bicyclists taking part in a weekend race in an Arizona mountain town, critically wounding several riders, was finally identified by authorities. Court records revealed that the accused had a criminal record of intoxicated driving.

On May 19, Shawn Michael Chock, 35, fled the crash in Show Low, which is about a three-hour drive northeast of Phoenix, and was shot by the police as they followed him, said Kristine Sleighter, a police spokeswoman. Chock, who lives in nearby White Mountain Lakes, was still in the hospital and in stable condition at the time, and the authorities were yet to establish a motive for the crash. Witnesses described seeing the bodies of cyclists flying left and right. Seven cyclists were rushed to hospitals, and six were listed in critical condition.

On the day Chock ran over the cyclists, we reported another similar incident in Florida, where a driver plowed into a Pride parade taking place at Stonewall, killing one. Last year, we reported an incident where five cyclists were killed and four were injured after a truck smashed into a group taking a 'retirement ride' on a Nevada highway. In 2019, we reported how Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, who had past records of drunk driving, killed 7 motorcyclists.