3 dead, 6 hurt after 92-year-old driver hits bicyclist and crashes into California grocery store

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER and JULIE WATSON, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES  — Three people were killed and six others were hurt after a 92-year-old driver collided with a bicyclist and then lost control and slammed into a grocery store Thursday in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Westwood, authorities said.

The woman driving a Toyota Prius hit the bicyclist shortly after noon and then continued for another block before swerving into the bakery section of a 99 Ranch Market and then coming to a stop, trapping several people underneath the vehicle, police and fire officials said.

Capt. Anthony Espinoza of the Los Angeles Police Department called the crash “an unfortunate accident,” and said it is not believed to have been intentional.

Two men, ages 30 and 55, and a 42-year-old woman, who were all inside the bakery at the time, died at the scene, the Los Angeles Fire Department said in its report. Two men, both 35, were taken to the hospital in critical condition, and two other men, ages 38 and 37, were in fair condition, according to the department.

The bicyclist and the driver declined offers to be taken to the hospital, the fire department said.

The driver was a 92-year-old woman, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Lyndsey Lantz told The Associated Press. Officials said she was cooperating with investigators and was undergoing a medical evaluation.

TV news footage showed a silver Prius fully inside the store, its trunk popped open. Next to it was a bright yellow sign directing shoppers to Korean street food and desserts. A popular Asian supermarket chain with about two dozen stores in California, the 99 Ranch Market store that was damaged is about a mile from the University of California, Los Angeles, campus.

“I can’t tell you how many coffees I’ve gotten in that bakery,” Sean Divekar, 32, told the Los Angeles Times, becoming emotional as he learned people were killed.

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Watson reported from San Diego.