CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES

A 23-year-old woman died and three others were critically injured early Sunday when their car sped down Wilshire Boulevard and slammed into a historic statue of a Los Angeles Times publisher at MacArthur Park.

The vehicle hit the base of an 8-foot bronze statue of Gen. Harrison Gray Otis, a Civil War veteran who bought part ownership of The Times in 1882 and was its publisher for 35 years.

Authorities identified the dead woman as Dranov Khaliunaa of Los Angeles. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The names of the three injured women were not released.

Sandra Garcia said she was at the corner of Wilshire and Park View Street when the car, a Scion TC, sped by in the eastbound lane. She said she heard the brakes screech as the vehicle jumped the curb and rammed the statue.

The driver was pinned against the dashboard and the three other women were moaning for help, said Garcia, 18, who was at the scene Sunday evening showing a friend where the car had crashed.

“It’s kind of weird that it hit the statue,” Garcia said.

-- Robert J. Lopez