The driver of a minivan that crashed outside a Los Angeles metro station, killing three women and critically injuring two more, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and three counts of murder, police said Wednesday.
Police identified the driver as Ihor Demianenko, 61, a resident of the Valley Village neighborhood of Los Angeles. Jail records show Demianenko was booked early Wednesday, with bail set at a little over $6 million. He was treated for minor injuries at a hospital, police said. It was not immediately clear if Demianenko had a lawyer who could respond to the allegations.
The crash happened around 6 p.m. Tuesday, when the white Toyota Sienna was traveling at an "unsafe speed" and veered to the right, ran off the road and collided with a light, Los Angeles police said in a news release Wednesday. It came to rest under a food vendor's tent. The force of the collision threw victims in different directions, according to the news release. The driver was trapped in the vehicle until rescuers arrived.
The three women who died were between the ages of 40 and 60, according to the police news release. They have not been identified. The two injured women are in their 50s. Luis Luna-Guzman was working at a nearby burger stand when he heard a loud boom and saw people on the ground along with food and cups. He found an injured woman lying near some bike racks, her face, arms and legs bloody. "I told her, 'Don't move, help is coming,'" Luna-Guzman said, adding that he saw a woman's body nearby, while another woman was lying unmoving on the stairs leading to the station.
Investigators will go through video of the crash frame by frame, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said. "It will be probably a prolonged but a very deliberate investigation to determine what happened here," he said.
In California, drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol can be charged with murder under certain circumstances. The California Supreme Court ruled in 1981 that drivers who kill someone with a vehicle can be charged with second-degree murder if they are found to have acted with "wantonness and a conscious disregard for life" that could support a finding of implied malice.
