Car Smashes Into Cafe in Monterey Park; 2 Die

Two people were killed and six injured--three seriously--when a car crashed into a Monterey Park restaurant Wednesday and plowed into diners, officials said.

“It looked like a war zone--no, it looked more like the pictures from the Armenian earthquake,” Monterey Park Fire Department Battalion Chief Ernest Pruett said.

He estimated that 20 to 30 people were in the Four Happiness restaurant at 310 S. Garfield Ave. at 5 p.m. when the out-of-control car “just went right into the center and all the way through.”

Pinned Against Wall

An unidentified man of about 30 and a girl about 17 were seated at a center table, directly in the car’s path, he said. They were killed instantly when the car pinned them against a wall and a stove, Pruett said.

“We literally had to disassemble the wall the free them,” he said.

The car, moving north on Garfield, struck a light pole at Ramona Boulevard and continued on out of control for 400 yards before crashing into the restaurant, Pruett said.

The driver, who witnesses said appeared to be between 60 and 70, suffered a broken neck, Pruett said. Monterey Park Police Sgt. George Hicks said the driver appeared to have been “very, very ill.”

A 12-year-old boy and a woman also were seriously injured, officials said, but the extent of their injuries were not immediately known. They were being treated at area hospitals.

Three other people in the restaurant suffered minor cuts and bruises, officials said.

Identifications of the dead and injured were not released immediately.

Wreckage Described

Manuel Brito, assistant manager at Chano’s, a restaurant across the street, said, “Booths and chairs were scattered everywhere. I ran over there with a lot of other people, and we tried pulling the wall loose.”

Brito, 25, said the group “kept pulling and pulling on the wall” in an effort to free the trapped couple. “But then gas started leaking, and it looked like everything was going to blow up,” he said. “So we had to get out of there.”