2 women killed in taxi crash
The cabdriver told police that one of the women attacked him, causing him to lose control and slam into a concrete barrier.
Two women were killed in a car crash this morning in City Terrace after one of them allegedly attacked the driver of the cab they were riding in with box cutters and he lost control of the vehicle, authorities said.
The two women, whose names have not been released, died at the crash scene at Medford Street and Fishburn Avenue about 1:30 a.m., Los Angeles Police Officer Norma Eisenman said.
The taxi driver, whose name also has not been released, was taken to a hospital and was in stable condition this morning, Eisenman said.
The driver told police that the two women flagged him down about 12:30 a.m. at Wabash Avenue and North Soto Street in Boyle Heights and asked to be taken to the Ramona Gardens public housing complex, police said.
Once they arrived, one of the women told him to wait for her boyfriend to pay the fare, he told authorities. But the driver told police that he sped away with the woman still inside his car when a man approached his car holding a handgun, Eisenman said.
According to the taxi driver's account to police, at that point one of the women attacked him with a box cutter, stabbing him in the face and neck.
During the attack, the driver lost control, crashed into a concrete barrier and was thrown from the cab, Eisenman said.
Police were questioning witnesses and suspects this morning about the crash, but had made no arrests, Eisenman said.
molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com
