1 Killed, 3 Critically Injured as Jeep Hits Billiard Parlor

A driver speeding away from a crash in West Los Angeles on Wednesday lost control and smashed into a billiard parlor, killing one person and critically injuring three others.

The driver, who has not been identified, is in critical condition at UCLA Medical Center. Police don’t know yet if he was intoxicated, Sgt. Steve Foster said.

The man, driving a Jeep Cherokee, had struck a car about 6:30 p.m. on Wilshire Boulevard, Foster said. He stopped, but as the other driver approached him to exchange information, “the driver of the Jeep put the pedal to the metal and struck the other vehicle a second time,” Foster said. “Then it appears he lost control, ran up onto the sidewalk and struck a pedestrian, knocking him into the billiard parlor.” The pedestrian was killed.

Three males inside Q’s Billiard Club, at 11850 West Wilshire Blvd., were critically injured, said city Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells. Two female customers and three men suffered minor injuries.

One witness said the Jeep’s driver appeared to be unconscious as the vehicle plowed into the restaurant.

But another witness who ran to help him said the driver was talking after the crash and was “kind of hysterical. He kept on asking me if they [the victims] were OK,” Moore Chung said. He described the driver as clean-cut and professional-looking.

Chung, who works up the street, said that as he put his work apron around the driver to try to staunch the flow of blood, other witnesses administered first aid to the other wounded.