An 86-year-old man drove his car the length of the Santa Monica Farmers' Market early Wednesday afternoon, apparently reaching freeway speeds as he plowed through a crowd of terrified summer shoppers, killing at least nine people, including a 3-year-old girl.
More than 50 people were hospitalized, 15 of them with critical injuries, after George Russell Weller of Santa Monica sped for 2 1/2 blocks through a market renowned as one of the region's culinary treasures.
Police said it appeared that Weller had lost control of his car.
"His statement is, he possibly hit the gas instead of the brake," said Santa Monica Police Chief James T. Butts Jr. "He said he tried to brake and he couldn't stop the vehicle."
Tests conducted immediately afterward showed that Weller was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Investigators said they did not believe he had any medical problem that might have caused the crash.
Police released Weller after questioning but said he could still be charged.
Witnesses at the market, which attracts about 9,000 people every Wednesday, said Weller appeared to be in a trance-like state as he drove his maroon Buick LeSabre sedan west along Arizona Avenue between 4th and 2nd streets.
Bodies bounced off the hood; produce stands collapsed, sending tables and umbrellas flying; boxes of fruit and vegetables tumbled in his wake. Those who weren't hit could only watch in horror.
"I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He was hitting people and they were just flying," said Parker Hall, 35, a salesman who had stopped at 2nd and Arizona to have a look at the market. "You would think it would have slowed him down, but it didn't. When he hit someone, you could hear it, and it was just, 'Boom! Boom! Boom!' "
By the time the car came to a halt between 2nd Street and Ocean Avenue, Hall said, two or three people were splayed on the hood and windshield.
"I was standing there talking to one of the farmers," said Laura Avery, the market's manager. "I heard this thing coming. It went right past us and we all ran after it. People were trying to get the license plate. Farmers were yelling, 'Get that guy! Get that guy!'
"But when we got there, it was just this old man sitting there in his car with an air bag blown up in his face, looking like he didn't know where he was. Then somebody said, 'Oh, my God! There's somebody under the car.'
