Why man drove through crowd is still undetermined
A 7-month-old boy became the 10th casualty in Wednesday’s farmer’s market tragedy.
The infant, identified as Brendon Esfahani, was the first casualty to arrive at Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center. Emergency Room Medical Director Wally Ghurabi said he heard the child was limp in his mother’s arms when police first arrived on the scene.
At the hospital, Esfahani was not breathing and had to be revived. His air passageway was opened and he was stabilized before being transported to the pediatric ICU at the UCLA hospital in Westwood.
However, attempts to save him failed and he died at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Seven of the nine dead have been identified. At least one person, Movsha Hoffman, 78, is from Santa Monica. The LA Coroner’s Office is waiting to notify the families of the other two before releasing their names. Autopsies are expected to be completed today.
Police estimated that 15 were critically injured on Wednesday and were taken to six different hospitals. It appears that four remain in critical condition — all other patients have been upgraded to serious, stable or fair condition.
The driver, Russell Weller, 86, of Santa Monica has not been charged in what appears to be an accident, though the investigation is ongoing. The Santa Monica Police Department and the Los Angeles district attorney’s office are working together on the case.
Santa Monica Police searched Weller’s home in the 600 block of 25th Street late Wednesday night, looking for medication and other evidence relating to the tragedy.
Police said they found evidence that leads investigators to believe that the wall of Weller’s garage has been hit with a vehicle at least twice. The investigation is questioning Weller’s ability to drive.
“Once the investigation is complete, we’ll present it to the DA’s office,” said SMPD Lt. Frank Fabrega.
If criminal charges are filed, they could range from vehicular manslaughter to misdemeanor charges, which don’t involve intent.
DA office spokeswoman Jane Robison wouldn’t speculate on what charges could be filed, if any.
604,“We had a team of prosecutors ready to go if he had been arrested but that didn’t happen,” she said. “We hate to get into hypotheticals and we don’t speculate because the facts of each case is different.”
At 1:47 p.m. on Wednesday, Weller drove his car down a crowded portion of Arizona Avenue that was roped off for the twice-weekly market, which attracts thousands. It is unknown why Weller drove through the crowd, however there has been speculation that he may have blacked out or lost control of his vehicle.
Witnesses say he reached speeds up to 70 miles per hour in the two-and-a-half blocks of the market he traveled.
Kevin McCarthy, 50, the ninth victim, who died Wednesday at about 9:30 p.m., underwent five hours of surgery at Saint John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, said ER Medical Director Russ Kino.
McCarthy suffered a critical chest injury and damage to his lung and several fractured bones. McCarthy also had severe lacerations, including a large one on his scalp.
“We were just unable to stop the bleeding,” Dr. Kino said. “There were so many sites just oozing blood. It was a non-survivable injury.”
His wife, Diana McCarthy, 41, also died. The couple lived in Los Angeles.
A total of nine patients were brought to Saint John’s. Three patients were left in stable condition. One patient will undergo surgery to help repair severely broken legs. One person is being kept for observation and another has a slight spinal injury that did not affect the spinal cord. All three are expected to be released soon, Dr. Kino said.
Five patients were treated and released with minor injuries.
At Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center, 12 patients were brought in, including 7-month-old Esfahani. One of those four seriously injured patients underwent surgery Wednesday. Another patient is undergoing surgery today. One of the remaining two seriously injured is in serious condition and one is in good condition. All seven patients with minor injuries were treated and released.
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center spokeswoman Julie Rees said two patients were brought in by helicopter. The 54-year-old male is listed in critical condition and a 53-year-old female is listed in good condition.
Four patients remain at UCLA Hospital in Westwood — one adult and one child remain in critical condition. Two adults are listed in fair condition and nine patients were treated and released.
USC County Hospital had two patients, one of whom was in critical and is now in serious to fair condition. The other was discharged.
“There were pediatric doctors, general surgeons, cardiac surgeons, orthopedic surgeons and a surgeon who I hadn’t seen at the hospital in 10 years who all showed up to help,” Santa Monica UCLA’s Ghurabi. “We had a neurosurgeon cleaning wounds and stitching up a leg.
“It was just an outpouring of goodwill,” he added. “I’ve been working in Santa Monica for 25 years and I’ve seen the earthquake (Northridge) and a zillion other things. There were a lot more injuries (in the quake) but this was far worse. It was upsetting enough that I had a hard time sleeping. We may be ER doctors but we are still human beings.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 18, 2003. Read the original PDF.