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One Dead After Driver Plows Through Crowded L.A. Boardwalk

Police and fire officials respond after a car drove through a packed afternoon crowd along the Venice Beach boardwalk in Los Angeles on Saturday.
Maarten Smitskamp
/
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Police and fire officials respond after a car drove through a packed afternoon crowd along the Venice Beach boardwalk in Los Angeles on Saturday.

A speeding car plowed through a crowd at Los Angeles' popular Venice Beach boardwalk, killing one person and injuring 11 others before he fled the scene. The driver apparently surrendered to police later.

The Associated Press reports that security video shows the driver of the black Dodge initially parked his car along the boardwalk on Saturday, and then minutes later got back in the vehicle and sped through the crowd. Hundreds of pedestrians were sent scrambling.

"There was people kind of stumbling around, blood dripping down their legs looking confused not knowing what had happened, people screaming," 35-year-old Louisa Hodge told the AP. "It was blocks and blocks of people just strewn across the sidewalk."

One of the injured was in critical condition and two others in serious condition, authorities said.

The AP reports that the initially fled the scene, but that a man walked into a police station in neighboring Santa Monica about an hour later telling officers he had been involved in the incident.

L.A. Police Lt. Andy Neiman said officers then found a car nearby that they believe belonged to the man.

Few other details about the driver or the victims were immediately available.

Update At 4:00 p.m. ET:

Police on Sunday said that the man who turned himself in to police in connection a few hours after Saturday's incident is 38-year-old Nathan Campbell.

He was booked on suspicion of murder and being held on $1 million bail, police said at a Sunday news conference.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Scott Neuman is a reporter and editor, working mainly on breaking news for NPR's digital and radio platforms.