5 Hurt as Driver Rams Car Into Outdoor Party

Five people were injured early Wednesday when a man plowed his car into a crowd of several hundred party-goers gathered on Fiesta Island after a nearby rock concert.

Police said angry people in the crowd retaliated against the driver by dragging him from the car and beating him.

The driver, identified by police as Martin J. Stockart, 27, was treated for head and chest injuries at the University of California, San Diego, Medical Center, where he was arrested on suspicion of four counts of assault with a deadly weapon and driving under the influence of a controlled substance.

After-Concert Party

The rock group AC/DC performed at the San Diego Sports Arena until about 11 p.m. Tuesday, and afterward a crowd of fans and others gathered at sandy Fiesta Island a mile away, a common site of large parties and bonfires.

According to police, Stockart argued with another man on the island about 2 a.m. “The suspect then yelled that he was going to get a gun,” said San Diego police Detective Jerry Berner. “Evidently he changed his mind, gunned the engine and headed for the crowd.”

Stockart’s car struck bystander Kimberly Myers, 16, police said. It pushed Myers several feet, hit other bystanders as it careened about 100 feet through the crowd and crashed into a parked truck, police said.

Hit in the Leg

Richard Kukan, 19, of Chula Vista said he was hit by the car. “I was walking through the crowd and I heard this car behind me and I saw the headlights coming over my shoulder,” he said. “It hit me in the back of the leg and I landed on my back. . . . Lots of people were running toward the car screaming.”

The angry crowd then dragged the driver from the car and beat him, police said,

Kukan was treated for bruises at the Chula Vista Community Hospital and released on crutches Wednesday. Myers is in good condition at the UCSD hospital, two others were treated at Mission Bay Hospital and another was treated at Balboa Park Naval Hospital.

In an apparently unrelated incident on the island, Thomas Cummings, 25, was in a pickup truck when someone in a green Chevrolet fired several gunshots at him through the window, police said. He suffered a grazing wound to the cheek and was in stable condition at Sharp Memorial Hospital.