High-speed crash near Chatsworth leaves elderly couple dead, granddaughter in critical condition
A high-speed car crash in Chatsworth left an elderly couple dead and their 9-year-old granddaughter in critical condition Sunday afternoon, police said.
Around 3:30 p.m., a 2011 Infiniti M37 was traveling south on De Soto Avenue at a high speed when it smashed into a Toyota Avalon that was turning left onto Plummer Street, according to a statement by the Los Angeles Police Department.
The driver of the Avalon, identified only as a 72-year-old man, and his 73-year-old wife both died at the scene, said Capt. Andy Neiman, who oversees traffic operations at the LAPD’s Valley Bureau. The couple’s 9-year-old granddaughter, who was riding in the backseat, remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition.
The victims’ names were being withheld pending notification of kin.
The driver of the Infiniti, a 26-year-old Granada Hills man, was also hospitalized with “severe injuries,” police said.
Witnesses initially told police that a gray sedan was driving alongside the Infiniti on De Soto Avenue, but Neiman said that investigators do not believe street racing to be a factor in the crash.
“Based on the evidence and the video we’ve reviewed thus far, it does not appear that any other vehicle was involved,” he said.
No arrests had been made as of Monday afternoon.
The area where the crash occurred is popular in the city’s illegal street-racing scene. A nearby stretch of Plummer Street is commonly referred to as the “Canoga Speedway.” In 2015, a vehicle involved in a street race on Plummer near Canoga Avenue plowed into a crowd, leaving two dead.
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