No serious injuries in San Vicente incident
By Sam Catanzaro
A vehicle drove through a homeless encampment next to the West Los Angeles VA Thursday, striking several people.
According to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), the incident was reported at 12:34 a.m. near 11500 W San Vicente Boulevard next to the West Los Angeles VA.
“A single vehicle drove through a homeless encampment, striking several people,” the LAFD said. “After an extensive search of the area, a total of three patients were located and assessed. Thankfully, only minor injuries resulted and all declined hospital transport.”
The incident comes just weeks after the Brentwood Community Council (BCC) warned about the potential of such crashes following some near misses in the following expert from a newsletter in early February.
“After a significant number of complaints of near miss car accidents on San Vicente adjacent to the homeless encampment, the BCC reached out to the encampment leaders after conferring with AmVets, the national organization that is sponsoring the encampment with County permits for additional refuse bins. AmVets indicated they would immediately reach out to the encampment and ask them to remove debris from the San Vicente roadway, including unpermitted and haphazardly placed lane markers and a “Detour Sign” (see photo), as well as bikes and other items that have been stored in the parking lane and then falling into traffic lanes, creating road hazards; additionally, there are repeated reports of near miss auto vs. pedestrian accidents due to encampment residents congregating in the right hand traffic lane, including a wheelchair bound Veteran, as there is no ADA walkway space on the sidewalk. The encampment leaders did not offer to move items out of the roadway.”
