Car Rams DMV; 23 Injured : Auto Demolishes Wall of Office in Chula Vista

Twenty-three people were injured late this morning when a driver crashed his late-model Plymouth through a wall of a crowded Department of Motor Vehicles office, striking a line of people before coming to a stop.

Eight of the victims were reported seriously injured. There were no immediate reports of fatalities.

One woman who was pinned under the car after it careened off a desk and into an interior wall was flown by medical helicopter to the trauma unit at the UC San Diego Medical Center, where she was listed in critical condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Eyewitnesses told reporters that the south office wall suddenly crumbled as if a major earthquake had struck. Then bodies started flying and people began running for cover as the automobile plowed into the office at 11 a.m. There were an estimated 200 persons in the office at the time.

“I heard a big boom, and I looked over and saw the car,” said Duval Cross, who was at the DMV to get an auto sales license. “It came directly through the wall, and made a right turn. People just scattered. It ran people over.

“Once the car stopped, everybody started screaming and running because some people thought it might have been a bomb. I just froze,” Cross said.

Chula Vista Police Detective John Madison said the driver was a Hispanic male in his early 40s. He was taken to a hospital to be examined for slight injuries and was to be questioned by authorities later.

“Once it (the car) entered the DMV, it hit a line of people standing to take care of their business,” he added. “The vehicle careened off the counter, began going in an eastbound direction and came over to another wall, where it stopped.”

Madison said police have no idea how fast the car was traveling or whether the crash was an accident.

“Right now, we can’t determine that because we have a lot of debris over the skid marks,” Madison said.

Chula Vista police and fire units, city paramedics and private ambulances and the UC San Diego Medical Center Life Flight helicopter responded to the scene. Seventeen people were taken to five hospitals in the Chula Vista area and in downtown San Diego. Paramedics treated six others in the DMV parking lot.