CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES
A man who may have been under the influence of alcohol crashed into a parked car and a utility pole in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday, killing himself and injuring two passengers and a pedestrian, police said.
Ricardo Avila-Tamayo, 33, of El Monte was driving north on Santa Fe Avenue in a Ford Explorer about 2:30 a.m. when he crashed into at least one parked car and then hit a pole near Olympic Boulevard, according to a coroner’s official and a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department.
He died at the scene. A front-seat passenger was taken to a hospital in critical condition, said LAPD Officer Rocio Gomez. A second passenger in the rear seat of the SUV suffered severe injuries, she said.
A nearby female pedestrian was also injured in the crash.
-- Ari B. Bloomekatz
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