Car drives into crowd at Los Angeles' Venice Beach, one dead, 11 hurt
Mike Gallagher
A NEW Zealand tourist has described the horror of hearing the screams of people being mowed down by a car speeding along Los Angeles' famed Venice Beach boardwalk.
An Italian bride on her honeymoon was killed and 11 others were injured while the alleged driver, 38-year-old Nathan Campbell, was arrested on suspicion of murder.
He is in custody on $1 million bond.
"It was chaotic," New Zealander Stefan Dujakovic told Los Angeles TV station NBC4.
"I heard all of the commotion and screams."
Security video shows a man parking his black Dodge Avenger car alongside the seaside boardwalk as the sun sinks, surveying the idyllic scene for several minutes before getting back into the car and speeding into the crowd.
The footage shows hundreds of people walking lazily or sitting at cafes before the car suddenly appears and sends them scrambling wildly.
Horrified witnesses said the man drove the vehicle around barriers to enter the boardwalk and then purposely swerved the car to hit people.
In this image take from a security camera, pedestrians scatter as a car drives through a packed afteoon crowd along the Venice Beach boardwalk in Los Angeles, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013. At least a dozen people were injured, two of them critically, according to police. (AP Photo/Snapchat)
Others reported a horrifying aftermath.
"There was people kind of stumbling around, blood dripping down their legs looking confused not knowing what had happened, people screaming," said 35-year-old Louisa Hodge, who was out enjoying the day on the Venice Beach boardwalk with a friend visiting from San Diego.
It was blocks and blocks of people just strewn across the footpath."
Police and fire officials assist an injured pedestrian at the scene where a car drove through a packed afteoon crowd along the Venice Beach boardwalk in Los Angeles, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013. At least a dozen people were injured, two of them critically, according to police. (AP Photo/Venice311.org, Alex Thompson)
Aaron Mason, a tourist from England, suffered cuts on his legs after the car sped through the crowd, struck him and sent his body flying.
"It was basically coming at me and everyone just started running," Mason said.
"I tued around and looked over my shoulder and a guy has gone over the bonnet.
"His wheel has clipped me and I've gone flying."
In this still frame made from security camera footage from Snapchat, Inc. headquarters, pedestrians scatter as a car drives through a packed afteoon crowd along the Venice Beach boardwalk in Los Angeles. One woman was killed and 11 people injured. (AP Photo/Snapchat Inc.)
The boardwalk is famous for the Muscle Beach outdoor gym, street vendors and caival atmosphere.
As well as striking walkers on the boardwalk, witnesses said the driver ran over street vendors, including 75-year-old psychic reader Linda Alvarez, who had a stall at Venice for decades and was being treated in an LA hospital.
Authorities identified the dead victim as Alice Gruppioni, 32, who was on her honeymoon from Bologna, Italy.
