13 Hurt as Car Rams Into Crowd

Thirteen people, including a 1 1/2-year-old boy, were injured Monday after an out-of-control car tore through a crowd at the Balboa Island ferry pier in Newport Beach, police said.

The three people most seriously hurt were taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana with internal injuries and broken limbs. The driver, Mary Anne Nash, 87, of Newport Beach, was shaken but otherwise not hurt. She was placed in a police car for questioning.

Witnesses said the auto was traveling 25 to 35 mph when it plowed into people as they disembarked the ferry, scattering them like pins struck by a bowling ball.

People were screaming and sunglasses and beach towels went flying, witnesses said. One person who fell into the water was pulled to safety by strangers. A woman’s handbag had to be pried out of the car’s grill.

“I was in the group getting off the ferry when all of a sudden you saw garbage cans and then people flying in the air,” said Mark DeAntonio of Costa Mesa, who was out for a bike ride. DeAntonio said he jumped off his bicycle and leaped out of the way to avoid the car, which stopped about 10 feet from him.

The car came to a halt when its right tires dropped between a pedestrian walkway and a vehicle ramp to the ferry. DeAntonio said six to eight people were on the ground moaning in pain.

Nash’s car was second in line on Balboa Island, waiting for the ferry to Balboa Peninsula when the accident occurred, officers said. The 65-foot ferry, carrying a car and at least two dozen people, had just docked. Police said Nash told them that she restarted her car when it “suddenly lurched forward,” swerved left, went onto the sidewalk and crashed into pedestrians.

“She said the car just lurched, took off. Whether it malfunctioned or not, I don’t know. That’s being investigated,” said Randy Scheerer, Newport Beach division fire chief.

He said Nash’s car traveled about 75 feet, scraped a wall, then sheared off a row of newspaper racks. Police did not know how fast Nash had been traveling, but witnesses estimated the car was traveling about 25 to 35 mph. There were no skid marks, Scheerer said.

Police said Nash had not taken alcohol or drugs.

Shelly Shook and Shannon Maguire, both 14, had been pedaling their bicycles near the ferry crossing. “We saw her pull out of the line and then there were tons of people just flying after she hit them,” Maguire said.

The injured ranged in age from 1 1/2 to 62.

Those most severely injured--Kathleen Bingley, 44, of Orange; Marla Goldberg, 47, of Woodland Hills; and an unidentified 14-year-old from Las Vegas--were taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana. Bingley was treated for internal injuries, Goldberg suffered a broken arm and the teenager had a broken leg.

The others who were injured were treated and released from Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach. They included: Scott, 47, and Jackie Andrews, 49, both of Las Vegas; John Ramirez, 31, of Long Beach; Gina Yenser, 31, Pat Rost, 62, and Denise Allen, 34, all of Las Vegas; Francis Gauthier, 39, of Quebec, Canada; John Yarter 34, of Tustin, and Kenneth Breland, 40, of Costa Mesa.

The 1 1/2-year old from Costa Mesa was not identified, nor was the extent of his injuries known.

The ferries travel the 900 feet between the shops and beach houses of Balboa Island and those of Balboa Peninsula.