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Street Market Crash: Eyewitness Accounts

Aired July 17, 2003 - 11:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Witnesses were stunned as a car careened in a busy marketplace in Santa Monica yesterday. Many rushed to help the victims until emergency crews arrived.
Tracy Williams and Ann Sage were in their office when the accident happened. Both ran outside to help, and they're joining us from the scene in Santa Monica this morning.

Ladies, good morning. Thanks for being with us.

So your office overlooks the place where the farmer's market gathers?

TRACY WILLIAMS, WITNESS: Yes, it overlooks Second Street -- excuse me, I mea, Arizona Street, between Second and Third, so just behind us.

KAGAN: Which I imagine on any other Wednesday is a lovely scene to overlook. As many as 9,000 people come out to enjoy the farmer's market.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

KAGAN: What was the first sign that something was wrong yesterday?

WILLIAMS: Well, we heard loud noises. We thought perhaps it was a bomb, or like a car bomb, I think that was some of our initial thoughts in our office.

ANN SAGE, WITNESS: I just had people shouting, oh, my God, oh, my God, what happened? What happened?

KAGAN: And then, Ann, when you came out, what did you see?

SAGE: Complete bedlam. There was one woman who was obviously killed on the pavement, and I went over to a young girl who was just sitting there completely dazed and tried to help her, and then there was a gentleman behind her and every bone in his body was broken. It was horrendous.

KAGAN: Right now, we know what happened, but at that point, I think it was probably unclear to what caused all this mayhem.

WILLIAMS: It was totally unclear. In fact, the three people that I chose. Ann chose three over here and I chose three over here, the -- we heard cars screeching. We had wheels screeching, so we thought perhaps whoever it was coming back around. Of course, that wasn't the case, but we weren't sure if we should move these people or just stay with them and see if the car was coming and then move and roll them over to the side. So there was a moment there when we didn't know if they were coming back.

KAGAN: And was there a sense of frustration on how much you were able to do?

SAGE: Yes, there always is, I think.

WILLIAMS: Yes, that's all we had was peaches, tomatoes, a roll of paper towels. I brought out a bottle of sparkling water from our office. But we had our first aid kit from our office, which was woeful, as you can imagine, Neosporin and band-aids.

KAGAN: Just do what you could do.

Of course, now we now know it was this 86-year-old man who lived in Santa Monica pretty his entire life.

Were you anywhere near where he was when his car came to a stop?

WILLIAMS: No, we were, as I said, on Arizona, closer between Second and Third, and I believe he stopped right behind us, or just a little bit further over.

KAGAN: Police took him into custody. There was no signs that he had used any drugs or he was under the influence. It appears just to be that he panicked -- and at this point, the early investigation showing that he pushed the gas instead of the brake. There's a piece in the "L.A. Times" today that talks about Mr. Weller as this incredible citizen of Santa Monica, donating time at the church, at the public library. Is there any sense of how he's being looked at? Of course, this is not to take away from the incredible tragedy, and the people who lost their lives and the families who lost loved ones, but how he's being looked at this morning.

SAGE: I think we feel terribly sorry for him.

WILLIAMS: I feel terribly sorry for the man. I got a call last night from a friend from my children's school, who happens to know him and has a church group at the Presbyterian church that he's at, and she's just devastated, and told us what a wonderful man he was, and I feel terribly sorry for he and his wife.

KAGAN: It just appears to be a tragedy all the way around.

SAGE: Yes.

KAGAN: Thank you so much for coming out, and not just in helping the people you did and coming to the scene and their aid, but also coming in and telling your story this morning. Tracy Williams and Ann Sage, appreciate your time, ladies. Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired July 17, 2003 - 11:20   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Witnesses were stunned as a car careened in a busy marketplace in Santa Monica yesterday. Many rushed to help the victims until emergency crews arrived.
Tracy Williams and Ann Sage were in their office when the accident happened. Both ran outside to help, and they're joining us from the scene in Santa Monica this morning.

Ladies, good morning. Thanks for being with us.

So your office overlooks the place where the farmer's market gathers?

TRACY WILLIAMS, WITNESS: Yes, it overlooks Second Street -- excuse me, I mea, Arizona Street, between Second and Third, so just behind us.

KAGAN: Which I imagine on any other Wednesday is a lovely scene to overlook. As many as 9,000 people come out to enjoy the farmer's market.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

KAGAN: What was the first sign that something was wrong yesterday?

WILLIAMS: Well, we heard loud noises. We thought perhaps it was a bomb, or like a car bomb, I think that was some of our initial thoughts in our office.

ANN SAGE, WITNESS: I just had people shouting, oh, my God, oh, my God, what happened? What happened?

KAGAN: And then, Ann, when you came out, what did you see?

SAGE: Complete bedlam. There was one woman who was obviously killed on the pavement, and I went over to a young girl who was just sitting there completely dazed and tried to help her, and then there was a gentleman behind her and every bone in his body was broken. It was horrendous.

KAGAN: Right now, we know what happened, but at that point, I think it was probably unclear to what caused all this mayhem.

WILLIAMS: It was totally unclear. In fact, the three people that I chose. Ann chose three over here and I chose three over here, the -- we heard cars screeching. We had wheels screeching, so we thought perhaps whoever it was coming back around. Of course, that wasn't the case, but we weren't sure if we should move these people or just stay with them and see if the car was coming and then move and roll them over to the side. So there was a moment there when we didn't know if they were coming back.

KAGAN: And was there a sense of frustration on how much you were able to do?

SAGE: Yes, there always is, I think.

WILLIAMS: Yes, that's all we had was peaches, tomatoes, a roll of paper towels. I brought out a bottle of sparkling water from our office. But we had our first aid kit from our office, which was woeful, as you can imagine, Neosporin and band-aids.

KAGAN: Just do what you could do.

Of course, now we now know it was this 86-year-old man who lived in Santa Monica pretty his entire life.

Were you anywhere near where he was when his car came to a stop?

WILLIAMS: No, we were, as I said, on Arizona, closer between Second and Third, and I believe he stopped right behind us, or just a little bit further over.

KAGAN: Police took him into custody. There was no signs that he had used any drugs or he was under the influence. It appears just to be that he panicked -- and at this point, the early investigation showing that he pushed the gas instead of the brake. There's a piece in the "L.A. Times" today that talks about Mr. Weller as this incredible citizen of Santa Monica, donating time at the church, at the public library. Is there any sense of how he's being looked at? Of course, this is not to take away from the incredible tragedy, and the people who lost their lives and the families who lost loved ones, but how he's being looked at this morning.

SAGE: I think we feel terribly sorry for him.

WILLIAMS: I feel terribly sorry for the man. I got a call last night from a friend from my children's school, who happens to know him and has a church group at the Presbyterian church that he's at, and she's just devastated, and told us what a wonderful man he was, and I feel terribly sorry for he and his wife.

KAGAN: It just appears to be a tragedy all the way around.

SAGE: Yes.

KAGAN: Thank you so much for coming out, and not just in helping the people you did and coming to the scene and their aid, but also coming in and telling your story this morning. Tracy Williams and Ann Sage, appreciate your time, ladies. Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com