A 2-Car Crash May Have Started It All

An elderly driver was apparently set on his deadly course through the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market by a collision with another car, police and an eyewitness said Thursday as new evidence emerged in the investigation into the tragedy.

A 7-month-old boy became the 10th victim to die.

Officials said it could take three weeks to determine whether 86-year-old George Russell Weller committed a crime Wednesday when he drove his maroon Buick sedan at high speed through the market, sending bodies catapulting and transforming a serene afternoon into a day of horror.

In the still-vivid aftermath of the crash, attention turned both to grief for those who died and to issues of blame: whether to charge Weller, and whether the city of Santa Monica shares responsibility for failing to install sturdy barriers at either end of the site where the twice-weekly market is held.

Weller’s lawyer, Vicki I. Podberesky, said she had “no indication whatsoever that he’s going to be charged.... As far as we know, Mr. Weller is being treated as a witness.”

The California Highway Patrol impounded a Mercedes that, authorities said, apparently was involved in an accident with Weller’s car just before he sped into the market.

A high-level CHP source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the agency is interested in a witness’ report that Weller may have crashed into the Mercedes, turned his vehicle around -- either because he was disoriented or because he was attempting to flee -- and then plowed into the farmers market.

The source stressed that he could not confirm the validity of that account. Another source familiar with the investigation cautioned that physical evidence from the scene indicated Weller may have lost control of his car, then hit the Mercedes on his way into the market.

Investigators also said an inspection of Weller’s home had shown that his car had repeatedly hit the wall of his garage.

In another development, several Los Angeles television stations played a videotape Thursday that purported to show Weller in the immediate aftermath of a minor accident 10 years ago. The tape was made by a man who said the accident, in which a Buick LeSabre crashed into a retaining wall, raised questions about Weller’s ability to drive.

The chief of the California Highway Patrol called Thursday on the Legislature to consider requiring motorists older than 75 to pass a behind-the-wheel test as a condition of renewing their licenses.

Commissioner D.O. “Spike” Helmick stressed that he had reached no conclusion on whether Weller’s age played a part in the crash. But he said the case focuses attention on whether elderly drivers should be tested more thoroughly and frequently than others.

“At some point, other people have the right to have some safety out there,” Helmick told reporters.

Meanwhile, along Santa Monica’s Arizona Avenue, which had been a colorful scene of summer bounty until Weller’s Buick sped through just before 2 p.m. Wednesday, a dozen cleanup workers were on their hands and knees. They systematically scrubbed and tarred over areas where bright orange, teal and red spray paint markings had denoted the locations of bodies and evidence. Patches of fresh tar dotted the street, marking the car’s fatal route.

More than 50 people were hospitalized with injuries suffered in the mayhem. The crash claimed its 10th and youngest victim Thursday when Brandon Davidi died early in the afternoon at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, the coroner’s office said. He had been at the market with his grandmother, Molok Ghoulian Nabatian, who was also killed.

Brandon suffered severe head injuries and had been the first patient admitted to Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center after the accident. He was later transferred to the children’s hospital in Westwood.

Dr. Lawrence Schecter, the Santa Monica center’s medical director, said the hospital first learned of the disaster when police arrived with Brandon. Expressing sympathy for the boy’s parents, the doctor said: “There is nothing worse in the world.”

Eight victims of the crash, including a 3-year-old girl, have been identified by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. The identity of a ninth was confirmed by friends, while another has been identified by law enforcement sources but not confirmed.

At the crash scene, candles, flowers, stuffed animals and cards were left beneath a dolphin sculpture in front of Cafe Promenade, in the heart of the market area. Carole Moritz Pauken, 41, of Santa Monica pushed her 2-year-old daughter while clutching a bouquet.

“When I heard about the little girl getting killed, it really hit a nerve,” she said, motioning toward her daughter, who was kicking off her shoes and sucking a lollipop while giggling.

Similar emotions were expressed by Weller’s pastor, the Rev. Stephen C. Lien of Brentwood Presbyterian Church.

Lien described his meeting with Weller and his wife after the crash. At one point, the minister recalled, he embraced Weller and said, “Russ, we are praying for you. He said, ‘Pray for all of the others affected by this.’ ”

Lien said he had told church staff that “if our faith means anything to us, it’s got to mean something at a time like this.

“If we believe our faith is relevant to life, to senseless tragedies, to accidents, to cataclysmic events,” he said, “it’s got to be real at a time like this.”

Potential charges against Weller range from negligent manslaughter to homicide, but some legal experts expressed doubt that he would ever be sentenced to jail.

One of the state’s top experts on vehicular homicide law, Pasadena attorney Richard A. Hutton, said he doubted that Weller would face serious charges.

The California Penal Code allows for charges of murder, manslaughter with gross negligence or manslaughter with ordinary negligence in cases in which a sober driver kills someone while driving a car.

“As I understand the facts, he probably hit the accelerator rather than the brake,” Hutton said. “That is ordinary negligence.”

For vehicular manslaughter with ordinary negligence, the maximum sentence would be one year in jail per count. Hutton said he doubted that Weller would get such a sentence, given his age and clean criminal and driving record.

One potential complication emerged Thursday with the broadcast of the videotape purporting to show Weller’s car shortly after he crashed it into a retaining wall at a party in 1993.

A man who identified himself as Chuck Morrell said he was a friend of Weller’s and had made the videotape as a joke. He said that nobody was hurt in the accident, but that it left him wondering if Weller should be driving.

“I saw him last night on the TV and said, ‘Wait a minute. I know this guy,’ ” Morrell said in a telephone interview.”

Even if Weller is not charged with a crime, Santa Monica attorney Larry Feldman said, the families of those killed may have a strong personal-injury case against him. But it is unlikely that Weller, or any individual, would be insured for the amount of damage involved in Wednesday’s crash, Feldman added.

“The real issue,” he said, “is who else is liable.”

One likely entity is the city of Santa Monica, which could face claims for failing to have a barrier that could have prevented the carnage. Several people who work around the market have raised questions about that issue.

“In the back of my mind, I knew that something like this could happen,” said Mike Ayoub, 44, owner of Gift Time, a jewelry and watch store in the Third Street Promenade a block from the accident scene. “They never had cement barriers to block cars. You would think with all this talk about terrorists, they would have something.”

The market, which draws about 9,000 people Wednesdays and also operates Saturdays, is separated from traffic by wooden sawhorses and signs. Santa Monica officials said Thursday that they would consider strengthening the barriers.

“We’re going to be looking at what lessons we can learn from this,” said Judy Rambeau, spokeswoman for the city attorney’s office.

“This market has operated for 22 years without incident,” Rambeau said. “Signage and road closure has worked in the past. But in the short term, people are probably going to want a little better feeling when they go into the market. So we’re looking at some things that could provide additional security and maintain access.”

There are already stronger barriers at the entrances to the Third Street Promenade, which is perpendicular to the market site and is permanently closed to unauthorized vehicles. Steel pipes embedded into the roadway block public auto traffic but can be removed by emergency and service vehicles, said Mark Richter, the city’s manager of economic development.

He said a similar structure was not installed on Arizona because the market is temporary.