Earlier today, a car headed westbound over the Hellman bridge on Paseo Rancho Castilla lost control and crashed into three parked vehicles in front of the North Field on campus.
The driver of the 2009 Audi A5 was Edward Alvarez, a resident of the area. As the crash is an ongoing investigation, University Police were not able to comment on whether or not the driver was under the influence, but said speed is believed to be a factor. Alvarez said in an interview with the University Times that he was not under any sort of influence.
None of the vehicle’s owners were on scene at the time, but Sergeant Darren Cooper told the University Times that police plan to get into contact with them.
“We have their license plates and we’re gonna get back to the station. More than likely, they’re housing residents so we’ll be able to connect with housing and see if we can find out who they are,” Cooper said. “We haven’t received any complaints from residents. Personally, I have seen some drivers that exceed the speed limit, but I wouldn’t say it’s out of control or anything like that.”
Alvarez was not badly injured but told the University Times he felt a knock on the head when the roof of his car hit the road.
“When I hit uneven ground on the road, it caused the steering wheel to vibrate, which I assume was the road, and that’s when I lost traction,” Alvarez said. “I tried to turn but I couldn’t and just went straight into the cars.”
Alvarez lives in close proximity to the university and said that, although his car hit an SUV hard enough to move it onto the sidewalk, he said he was not going any quicker than 25 mph. Alvarez also said that he purchased the car just three weeks ago. There were no skid marks on the street, which would imply that brakes were applied before making contact. Alvarez was apologetic towards the owners of the cars he crashed into.
“I think that the road is what caused the accident, because it’s not even. It’s all bumpy and [road workers] attempted to fix it because it was even worse before,” Alvarez said. “I would like to send [the owners of the vehicles] my apologies and I hope that we can come together against hazardous roads.”
University Times reporters on scene reported that the roads were cracked, but there were no noticeable large bumps on the road.
“Both of us are victims in this, because I think the road is what caused the accident,” he said.
Although fourth-year criminal justice major Kevin Ruiz did not witness the accident, he rushed to the scene after receiving the notification on his phone. Ruiz is a campus dorm resident and said that it’s common for people to speed down Paseo Rancho Castilla.
“On this street you get a lot of people driving erratically,” Ruiz said. “It mostly happens in the middle of the night, but it happens a lot and I can hear tires screeching.”
Krystal Haynes, a fine arts major, said that her car was parked near the accident when it occurred. It narrowly escaped being hit.
“The officer said that my car was completely fine, and it hit the other one that was two cars ahead of me,” Haynes said.
While it is unconfirmed whether the owner of the parked vehicles were students, Haynes said that she sympathized with the victims.
“You don’t know what another student is going through financially and emotionally,” Haynes said. “Hearing that it could happen to my car and that it was so close, I was literally on the verge of crying. It might have been the same to that student too.”
Haynes said that modes of transportation are important for students, because Cal State LA is a commuter school.
“They might not have the funds to be able to get transportation at other places,” she said. “Especially if the person is not from L.A. If they’re from Fresno, Bakersfield, San Diego…They have to drive home in a couple weeks because we’re getting out of school.”
The University Times has reached out to the university’s public information office and the city’s street public information office for comment. Updates to come following their response.
