LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A crash that killed a woman and critically injured her 6-year-old daughter near Hancock Park Elementary School "appears to be a tragic accident," police said Wednesday, adding that the driver who struck them in a crosswalk may have suffered an unspecified medical emergency.
The woman in her 30s was walking in a crosswalk with the girl around 8 a.m. Tuesday near Ogden Drive and Colgate Avenue in the mid-Wilshire area when they were struck by a southbound pickup that continued south and crashed into an apartment building. The woman, who has not been identified, died at the scene. The girl -- a first-grader at Hancock Park Elementary -- was hospitalized in critical condition, police said.
The driver of the pickup, a man around 30, was taken to a hospital for treatment of moderate injuries. Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore told the Police Commission Tuesday morning there were early signs that the driver may have been impaired.
On Wednesday, however, the LAPD issued a statement saying the crash may not have been the result of any criminal activity.
"At this time, based on the totality of the circumstances, this appears to be a tragic accident that possibly resulted from a medical emergency," police said. "Investigation into this cause is ongoing, however, and will include the examination of additional evidence such as remaining video, canvass for additional witnesses and a forensic examination of the involved vehicle. The driver has been positively identified and remains out of custody at this time, but as the investigation proceeds there is a potential that charges may be filed at a later date."
The fatal crash sparked calls for increased traffic safety around schools. Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said a 14-year-old student at Berendo Middle School near downtown Los Angeles was struck by a vehicle Wednesday. Circumstances of that crash and the condition of the student were not immediately available.
"We need immediate staffing of crossing guards, more enforcement around schools specific to speed limits and legislation to provide additional safety precautions and measures to ensure safe passages to schools," Carvalho said in a statement. "We wish our student a speedy recovery, and extra support will be provided to the school community."
A Los Angeles City Council committee on Wednesday unanimously approved a motion calling for the installation of speed humps outside all schools in the city in an effort to slow traffic.
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, who represents the area where Tuesday's crash occurred, wrote on her Twitter page that there are "no words to convey how horrifying this act of traffic violence is."
"Like tens of thousands of other parents in Los Angeles, I also walked my child to school today," she said. "It can be a terrifying experience, knowing that distracted drivers are traveling far above speed limits just feet from where our children walk."
Yaroslavsky vowed to support the speed-hump program at schools.
"We need to address street safety in Los Angeles as the crisis that it is," she wrote. "That starts with ensuring that Hancock Park Elementary has a crossing guard at the intersection where the accident occurred."
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