3 Killed Outside North Hollywood Metro Station; Driver Arrested

The crash happened just before 6 p.m. near Lankershim and Chandler boulevards, outside the North Hollywood Metro station, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. In a statement, the Los Angeles Police Department said a Toyota Sienna minivan heading south on Lankershim was traveling “at an unsafe speed when it veered to the right, ran off the road” and hit several pedestrians and food vendors on the sidewalk near the station.

Firefighters found three people dead at the scene. Two others were taken to a hospital in critical condition, and one of them is now believed to be stable, KTLA reported. Witnesses and community members told ABC7 and KTLA that at least two of the people killed were food vendors who had worked outside the station for years. Their names have not been released.

The driver had to be freed from the minivan and had minor injuries, police said. The driver was first arrested on suspicion of felony DUI and then on suspicion of three counts of murder, and is being held on $6.03 million bail, according to the LAPD. On the night of the crash, an LAPD captain said police did not yet know whether it was intentional or an accident, CNN and KTLA reported, and another captain said early video appeared to show the minivan avoiding another car before it went onto the sidewalk. Charges are up to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, and an arrest is not a conviction. This article may be updated as the investigation continues.

The criminal case and any civil claim are separate. Prosecutors decide what charges to file, while families and people who were hurt can pursue claims for their own losses, which are decided under a different standard of proof.

After a death caused by someone’s wrongful act or neglect, the right to a wrongful death claim belongs first to the surviving spouse or domestic partner and children. If the person left no children or other descendants, the relatives who would inherit can bring it instead (Code of Civil Procedure §377.60). Our page on who can file a wrongful death claim explains the order. The general deadline for injury and death claims is two years (Code of Civil Procedure §335.1), but a claim against a city, county, or other public agency must be presented within six months (Government Code §911.2).

When several people are hurt in one crash, a single driver’s liability policy may have to cover all of them. A household’s own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage can apply to people hurt while walking, not only while riding in a car; our guide to how your own coverage can pay explains how.

This is general information about California law and is not legal advice; which claims apply here depends on facts the investigation has not yet released.

If you lost a family member or were hurt outside the North Hollywood station, Wilshire Law Firm may be able to help. The firm’s Los Angeles pedestrian accident lawyers, based at our Los Angeles office, represent people in fatal pedestrian accident cases, wrongful death claims, and drunk driving accident claims throughout Los Angeles County.

For a crash like this, our team can obtain the police report, send letters asking that video and the minivan be preserved, and handle the insurers. Learn more about our attorneys, read about what pedestrians may recover in Los Angeles, or see our coverage of a sidewalk crash outside an Arlington Heights grocery store earlier this month.

Losing someone without warning leaves a family with urgent questions and very little information. You can talk with a Wilshire Law Firm legal professional free of charge, day or night, and there are no fees unless you get paid.

Contact Wilshire Law Firm today.