Three people killed in separate traffic accidents in South L.A. on Thanksgiving Day
At least three people were killed by speeding or inebriated drivers in South Los Angeles on Thursday, marking the deadliest Thanksgiving Day in the community in recent years, according to police and media reports.
"In 28 years, this is the worst Thanksgiving I’ve ever seen,” Det. Ryan Moreno of the LAPD's South Traffic Division told KNBC-TV Channel 4. Moreno responded to the three accidents.
In total, nine fatal accidents occurred in the LAPD South Traffic Division in less than two weeks, according to police.
The first incident on occurred about 5:30 a.m. Thursday near the intersection of 18th and Figueroa streets in Harbor Gateway, according to police and NBC. A driver suspected of being drunk and traveling more than 100 mph hit a car with three women inside, killing a 24-year-old single mother of a 5-year-old boy.
Just after 1 p.m., another suspected drunk driver pulled out of a liquor store on Western Avenue near 83rd Street and crashed into a speeding motorist, who then struck and killed Alma Letecia Aragon, 26, as she walked with her 8-year-old daughter, authorities said. The child remained in critical condition on Friday.
“It’s looking right now, [that] it’s going to take a miracle [for] this girl to pull out," Moreno said to NBC. "We’re all praying for her that she makes it."
A few blocks away, on Western Avenue and 73rd Street, police responded about 11 p.m. to a speeding driver under the influence of marijuana who authorities said struck and killed a homeless man.
“All of these cases range from manslaughter, to possibly murder," Moreno told NBC. “It’s people just now, self-entitled, thinking, they can do whatever they want."
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
