8 Victims Still in Hospital

Eight people remained hospitalized Thursday, one day after a mentally impaired man was killed and 14 other people were injured in North Hills when a pickup slammed into a hospital van carrying disabled passengers.

After the collision, the van, which belongs to Mission Community Hospital in Panorama City, slid into a Los Angeles Police Department patrol car stopped at a red light at Nordhoff Street and Hayvenhurst Avenue. LAPD traffic detectives are investigating the cause of the crash, which occurred about 2:15 p.m.

A 33-year-old male and a 41-year-old female officer in the damaged squad car called for backup and, along with other rescuers, managed to lift the van and pull out three passengers pinned beneath it.

Craig Miller, 41, of Winnetka, who died in the crash, was one of 11 van passengers in a program for people with mental disabilities, said Bill Daniel, chief executive officer of the hospital.

“The patients are picked up in the morning for a day of activities,” he said, adding that the program helps develop participants’ social skills, provides occupational therapy and offers activities such as painting.

Daniel said he could not talk at length about Miller, except to say that “we’re in touch with his family, and we’re trying to do the right thing by his family.”

Seven of the 11 passengers in the van were still hospitalized, five in intensive care units, but all were expected to survive, Daniel said. The eighth victim, the pickup driver, also was hospitalized, but his injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said.

Police said an initial investigation suggested that most of the passengers in the van had not been wearing seat belts.

“Someone may be thrown out of a vehicle, even if they’re wearing seat belts, but that’s not typical,” said LAPD Capt. Greg Meyer, commanding officer of the Valley Traffic Division. “Seat belts generally protect you a lot better than not wearing seat belts.”

Daniel said it is the hospital’s policy to make sure people riding in its vans are buckled up, but he couldn’t say for certain whether these passengers had been.

“That’s part of our training for our staff. I think our drivers make every effort” to make sure passengers put seat belts on, he said.

Police said high-speed impacts could cause seat belts to break, but a detective said that ascertaining the speeds of the pickup and the van was proving difficult because of the absence of skid marks.

“It’s hard to determine any basic speed on either vehicle because there was no braking whatsoever,” Det. Jim Mann said.

Police said it appeared that one of the vehicles had run a red light. The van was northbound on Hayvenhurst when it was struck by the pickup, which was heading east on Nordhoff.