Pregnant Woman Among Multiple Fatalities in Explosive Los Angeles Crash After Driver Speeds Through Red Light

Content warning: This article contains footage some may find disturbing.

Multiple people were killed in an explosive crash in the Los Angeles area after the driver of a black Mercedes sped through a stop light.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department first said Thursday afternoon that officials had been dispatched to what they initially described as a “multiple casualty incident” in Windsor Hills. Per a report from the Associated Press, the driver in question—who survived the crash but was hospitalized with severe injuries—slammed into multiple other cars at the busy intersection after running a red light shortly after 1:30 p.m. local time.

In a subsequent update, the LACOFD, which noted the crash remained under “active investigation” as of Thursday evening, said five people were dead at the scene and another nine were injured. Of those injuries, eight were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment.

At a press conference on Thursday evening, a spokesperson with the California Highway Patrol fielded questions about the status of the investigation, with the ultimate takeaway being that authorities were still largely relying on preliminary info at the time.

“As far as the specifics as to how many were in each vehicle and as far as how many were ejected, that’s still preliminary. It’s still an ongoing investigation,” the spokesperson told reporters, as seen in the CBS Los Angeles-shared video below. “We do not know exactly how many were in each vehicle. We’re still tying to piece that stuff together since it’s still an active, ongoing investigation.”

As for additional details on the driver, the rep was able to confirm only that “a 40-year-old female” was behind the wheel. Pushed for insight on how fast, exactly, the woman was driving when she ran the stop light, the rep noted that she was indeed driving at “a high rate of speed,” although the exact speed remained unknown.

“It’s very obvious from the video everyone’s seen at this point that it was a tremendous, high rate of speed,” he said. “Obviously we weren’t out here to necessarily have a radar or anything out but we can say it was a high rate of speed, at minimum at least 50 to 60 miles an hour and/or higher.”

A pregnant woman and an infant have been confirmed to have been among those who were killed as a result of the crash. While an updated statement from CHP on Thursday night noted that the death count had been raised to six following the discovery of another body inside one of the burned vehicles, NBC Los Angeles’ report points out that this number from law enforcement officials counted the fetus.

Complex has reached out to reps with CHP and LACOFD for additional comments and clarification. This post may be updated.