Eight killed as car plows through Santa Monica farmers market

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) - A car driven by an elderly man plowed through a crowded farmers market Wednesday, killing eight people -- including a 3-year-old girl -- and injuring up to 45 others.

Fifteen of the victims were critically injured, Police Chief James T. Butts Jr. said.

Authorities said the 86-year-old driver, identified by family members as Russell Weller of Santa Monica, told them he may have hit the gas instead of the brake. His family issued an apology Wednesday night.

"Mr. Weller and his family want to express their deepest sympathies to the victims and their families of the tragic accident earlier today," Weller family attorney Jim Bianco said in the statement. "This was an unintentional and unfortunate accident. Mr. Weller is very shaken up, but his thoughts tonight are with the victims and their families. "

Witnesses said victims were hurled through the air as the car, running down a street closed for the twice-a-week market, smashed through tents and boxes of produce shortly before 2 p.m.

"It was like a hurricane just came down the center of the street," said Megan Sheehy, general manager of a nearby restaurant.

Butts said 20 to 30 people had moderate or light injuries. They were taken to four hospitals by a fleet of ambulances and rescue helicopters. Rain fell briefly as victims were still being removed.

In addition to the child, the dead included five women and two men, said coroner's official Juan Jimenez. The bodies remained, unidentified, at the scene late in the day for the investigation.

Butts said the driver was taken to a hospital for a blood test and initial results found no traces of alcohol or psychoactive drugs such as antidepressants and hallucinogens.

The chief said the driver told investigators he tried to stop but may have hit the gas instead of the brake. The driver was not arrested, but investigators were considering whether the case was "manslaughter of some type" and a matter of whether he was qualified to drive, Butts said.

"There may be some negligence as to his capacity to drive safely," Butts said. He noted that the man did have a valid driver's license.

Weller was allowed to leave police headquarters by late afternoon. Walking unsteadily with a cane, he hugged and smiled at people who picked him up from the police station. When a reporter placed a microphone in front of him he said could not comment.

Mary Roney, who has lived two doors down from Weller and his wife for 30 years, said he has never had any trouble driving and she did not know of any health problems.

"A more careful, gentle, loving person you'll never find," said Roney, who described him as active in the community, including serving on a library board and tutoring students at Santa Monica High School.

Butts said he did not have an estimate of the car's speed. Witnesses said the 1992 Buick was moving very fast down the three downtown blocks of Arizona Avenue that were closed for the street market.

"Sixty miles per hour and it wasn't slowing down. It was flying. And then people down, dead and everything," said David Lang, manager of a shoe store along the market route.

"I heard a car just hit, bang, bang, bang," said Mojgan Pour, 38. "I heard people screaming. By the time I looked, I never even saw the car. I tried to help a man and he died while I was helping him."

Bahram Manahedgi, 50, said one person was on the hood of the car when it finally came to rest,and a woman was crushed beneath it.

Manahedgi said that when he went to pull the driver out, "he was an old man. His eyes were open and he was alive. I said, 'Do you know what the hell you did?' He said, 'No.' I just opened the door, I pulled him out."

A crowd gathered around the car and "wanted to beat him up," Manahedgi said. "I said, 'He's an old man, leave him alone.'"

The car was extensively damaged, including a smashed front end and windshield. What appeared to be shoes were on its roof.

Jessie Moio, 15, of Santa Monica described seeing a woman screaming in terror by a child lying under a yellow sheet. "We later just saw there was blood all over her white dress," Moio said.

Ronald Gaba was working inside Acadie restaurant on Arizona Avenue when he heard screams from the sidewalk.

"During the time, there was a lot of crying," Gaba said. "I came outside and saw one body covered by a cloth. I can't describe what is happening, it's something I've never seen before."

The market, which takes place Wednesdays and Saturdays, bisects oceanside Santa Monica's popular Third Street pedestrian promenade and is near the famous Santa Monica Pier. It draws thousands of shoppers.