Driver Speeds Through Market; 8 Die
By Joel Rubin, Daren Briscoe and Mitchell Landsberg
Times Staff Writers
8:47 PM PDT, July 16, 2003
SANTA MONICA An 86-year-old man drove his car the length of the Santa Monica Farmer's Market early Wednesday afternoon, apparently hitting freeway speeds as he plowed through a crowd of peak summer shoppers.
At least eight people were killed, one of them a 3-year-old child, as the driver sped for 2 1/2 blocks through a market renowned as one of the region's culinary treasures. In addition to the dead, nearly 50 people were hospitalized, 15 of them with critical injuries.
Police said the driver apparently had lost control of his car.
"His statement is, he possibly hit the gas instead of the brake," said Santa Monica Police Chief James T. Butts Jr. "He said he tried to brake, and he couldn't stop the vehicle."
Tests conducted immediately after the calamity showed that the driver, identified as George Russell Weller of Santa Monica, was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Investigators said they did not believe he had suffered any medical problem that might have caused him to lose control of his car.
Witnesses at the market, which attracts as many as 9,000 people every Wednesday, said Weller appeared in a trancelike state as he drove his red Buick LeSabre sedan west along Arizona Avenue between 4th and 2nd streets.
Bodies bounced off his hood; produce stands collapsed; boxes of fruit and vegetables tumbled in his wake. People who weren't hit could only watch in horror.
"I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He was hitting people and they were just flying," said Parker Hall, 35, a salesman who had stopped on 2nd and Arizona to have a look at the market. "You would think it would have slowed him down, but it didn't. When he hit someone, you could hear it, and it was just, `Boom! Boom! Boom!"'
By the time the car came to a halt between 2nd Street and Ocean Avenue, Hall said two or three people were splayed on the hood and windshield. A woman was trapped under the car, prompting bystanders to lift the front of the vehicle and pull her out. The street was strewn with the bodies of other victims, some apparently dead.
The hood of the 11-year-old Buick was mangled and dented. An apple core and two unmatched women's shoes lay atop its roof.
"It was gruesome," Hall said. "There was fruit everywhere, and they were covered with raspberries and other things." He said the crowd pulled the driver out of the car, and he "looked like he was in some kind of numb state. He wasn't freaking out. It's the weirdest thing I've ever seen in my life."
Another witness, Penny Tremper, 64, of San Luis Obispo, was working at a booth that sells jojoba oil when the car sped by. "I saw his face," she said. "He was determined. You could hear the engine roaring. The word that went through my mind was kamikaze. His eyes were wide and his hands were clenched on the wheel."
Police said the incident occurred at 1:47 p.m., just 13 minutes before the market was scheduled to close for the day. Butts said Weller had just left the post office and was heading west on Arizona when he spotted the farmer's market blocking his path. It was at that point that he apparently hit the gas instead of the brakes, Butts said.
Andy Fisher, 40, of Venice, said he saw the car accelerate as it crossed 4th Street. West of 4th, Arizona is closed off every Wednesday and Saturday for the produce market. The Wednesday market has a reputation as one of the best of its kind, and attracts a loyal crowd that includes chefs from many of the best restaurants in the Los Angeles area.
Fisher, who runs a nonprofit organization, Community Food Security Coalition, that promotes farmer's markets on a national level, estimated that the car was going 60 mph, a figure cited by other witnesses.
California Highway Patrol Commissioner Spike Helmick estimated that the car hit speeds as high as 80 mph.
Some shoppers said their first thought was that the car was engaging in a terrorist act. Julius Smith, a stock trader who lives in Santa Monica, said his immediate reaction was: "Oh my God, it's happening in Santa Monica!"
The market's manager, Laura Avery, said it had been a fairly typical day, perhaps a bit slower than usual. "I was standing there talking to one of the farmers," she said. "I heard this thing coming. It went right past us and we all ran after it. People were trying to get the license plate. Farmers were yelling `Get that guy, get that guy.'
But when we got there, it was just this old man sitting there in his car with an air bag blown up in his face, looking like he didn't know where he was. Then somebody said, `Oh my God, there's somebody under the car.' So everybody got together to try to move the car. There was this lady there just totally skinned and scraped. I think she was OK."
Neighbors on Weller's well-manicured street on the north side of Santa Monica described him as a kind, religious man with no history of erratic behavior. A former salesman, he and his wife, Harriet, a former teacher, have been married for 64 years, according to an interview the couple gave to National Public Radio several years ago. They are active members of the Brentwood Presbyterian church.
"Mr. Weller is an articulate, bright, concerned individual," said Herb Roney, who lives two doors down. "Of all the people who this could happen to, I can't believe it's him."
The incident seemed likely to add to an existing debate in Sacramento, the state capital, over licensing procedures for older drivers.
Armando Botello, a spokesman for the state Department of Motor Vehicles, said Weller passed both written and vision tests for his driver's license in November 2000. Because he showed no signs of eroding skills, he was not asked to take a driving test, Botello said.
After the crash, Weller was taken to Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center, where he was examined, evaluated and released to Santa Monica Police, according to Dr. Lawrence Schecter.
Police questioned Weller, then released him. Slightly stooped and using a cane, he walked out of Santa Monica police headquarters with a grandson, another family member and an attorney.
Asked to comment, he looked at reporters and said "no" several times.
Later, attorney Vicky Podberesky said she would be representing Weller as needed along with associate James Bianco. "It appears to be a really tragic accident," Podberesky said. "It's not clear that there'll be any charges filed. It's just an investigation at this point."
Investigators with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office were dispatched to the scene but prosecutors said no further action would be taken unless an arrest was made in the case.
Under California law, vehicular manslaughter is defined as killing someone with a vehicle while committing another crime, or while driving the vehicle in an unlawful manner.
But the deaths might not lead to charges if investigators determine that the crash was caused "by accident and misfortune."
Hospital tallies suggested at least 49 people were hospitalized, including eight airlifted to three public hospitals, UCLA-Harbor Medical Center, County-USC Medical Center and Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center.
The eight dead were not immediately identified. Avery said that she did not believe any of the dead or injured were farmers.