2 Dead, 10 Injured--5 of Them Critically--in South L.A. Collision

Two people were killed and 10 injured--five of them critically--in an accident involving at least four cars Sunday night in South Los Angeles, a city fire spokesman said.

The pileup happened about 6:30 p.m. in the 4000 block of South Normandie Avenue, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Bob Collis.

Neighbors, including a priest at the nearby St. Cecilia Roman Catholic Church, said they were jolted when they heard the successive impacts from the mishap.

“I was in the house upstairs and I could hear the boom, boom, boom of cars hitting each other,” said Father Sergio Contran, who was in the church rectory at the time. “The cars were passing by in full speed and then, bang, bang, bang. It was really shocking.”

Police late Sunday cordoned off the accident scene, where a white pickup truck had landed on top of a white Mustang and a station wagon appeared to have smashed into a parked car.

Authorities said they could not immediately establish the cause of the crash. They did not release the identities of the dead except to say they were two men.

Of those injured, five adults were taken to area hospitals and were in critical condition, Collis said. Four other adults and a 9-year-old girl suffered minor injuries and were taken to County-USC Medical Center.