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American Morning
Nine Killed in Santa Monica Tragedy
Aired July 17, 2003 - 08:05 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to Santa Monica this morning, where police -- people there are reeling from the tragedy. Nine people killed yesterday when a car driven by an elderly man plowed through a crowded street market. More than 50 people were injured, many of them critically.
CNN's Miguel Marquez is live at the scene for us in Santa Monica -- Miguel, good morning.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.
Yes, this farmer's market is quite popular out here. Thousands attend every Wednesday. Yesterday there was probably a few more children out here because it is, after all, summer vacation. The farmer's market was just winding down yesterday afternoon when a maroon Buick went careening through the three blocks of the market, striking person after person. One of the nine killed was a 3-year-old girl.
The person apparently responsible is 86-year-old Russell Weller. He had just left the post office, police say, and then he told police that his foot may have slipped off the brake and onto the gas.
We talked to the police chief out here in Santa Monica today. He said that they have about 100 witnesses whose testimony they have to synthesize. They're going through the physical evidence here at the scene. And at some point they may bring charges.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF JAMES T. BUTTS, JR., SANTA MONICA POLICE DEPARTMENT: When you look at vehicular manslaughters, and that's what they are, seldom do you find that someone has formed the premeditated intent to kill. And so realistically, you would end up with an involuntary or voluntary manslaughter if a negligent homicide occurred.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: Now, the chief also said that his department served a warrant on Mr. Weller's address last night. They were looking for anything that might add to their investigation in the way of prescription drugs and the like. The one thing he did say that they found out there, though, that was interesting to him at least is that the garage door looked as though it had been hit by the car at some point. Whether or not that means anything in this investigation at this point, he's not entirely sure -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, CNN's Miguel Marquez, thanks for that report.
A terrifying tragedy like this can often bring out the very best in people.
Joe Chrisman was at the street market. He watched the entire horror unfold.
And he joins us this morning from Santa Monica.
Joe, good morning.
Thanks for joining us.
JOE CHRISMAN, WITNESS: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: You work near the farmer's market. What did you see?
CHRISMAN: Well, it's actually, I heard the sounds of metal on metal and people screaming and I looked out the window to see a car traveling by, at which point I ran outside with one of my bosses, who, you know, to our horror saw a man on the hood of a vehicle and an elderly gentleman being pulled from a car. And there was a very large Hispanic man who was yelling, "There's someone under the vehicle!" And a group of about 10 of us ran over and lifted the car and moved it off of this woman who emerged without any abrasions or scrapes. And she was breathing and to everyone's obviously god blessing, very happy to see her alive.
O'BRIEN: You had had plans to meet your sister for lunch there and you canceled them. But you were worried about maybe she went and was just going to head down there without you anyway. You ran up and down the street to try to find your sister. You weren't able to. Fortunately, she wasn't among any of the injured.
What did you do next?
CHRISMAN: Well, I took a sigh of relief and I was able to exhale at that point. I mean, not knowing if your sibling is, you know, one of the people who were down in all that carnage was, you know, emotionally very frustrating. At that point, I ran back and noticed people from the building where I work and members of the farmer's market aiding the people who were hurt. And I kind of went down the street looking to see where I could help and stopped a few people to console them and reassure them. And at that point helped organize moving a lot of these tents that were set up for the farmer's market out of the street so emergency vehicles could get in there and enter.
O'BRIEN: Joe, give me a sense, was there screaming and yelling? Were people just in shock and it was sort of quiet? What was it like at the scene?
CHRISMAN: You know, initially the sounds were, you know, the word that comes to mind is cacophonous. It was so loud with, you know, I thought I heard a horn on the car, but, you know, in the aftermath, it turned out it was really sort of quiet and, you know, with a few people yelling out, trying to identify, helping workers identify where the most critically injured people were and that sort of thing.
But it was a collective, it felt like a collective effort, you know, to get things scored in and get things out of the roadway and just to help, help people.
O'BRIEN: You saw the car whizzing by, you say. There are some reports that this driver may have been going as fast as 60 miles an hour as he traveled through all these pedestrians.
Does that sound about right to you?
CHRISMAN: You know, he was going extremely fast and for an area that is a tight little shoot with, you know, thousands of people, I mean it's tragic.
O'BRIEN: It's a horrible thing, I'm sure, to have had to have seen, you know, and jump in and help.
How are you holding up today?
CHRISMAN: Well, I'm doing pretty well. I got some sleep last night, so I'm happy with that.
O'BRIEN: All right, well, Joe Chrisman, thanks for jumping in and helping out and thanks to all the people in the area who did that, as well, and thanks for joining us, too.
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 - 08:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to Santa Monica this morning, where police -- people there are reeling from the tragedy. Nine people killed yesterday when a car driven by an elderly man plowed through a crowded street market. More than 50 people were injured, many of them critically.
CNN's Miguel Marquez is live at the scene for us in Santa Monica -- Miguel, good morning.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.
Yes, this farmer's market is quite popular out here. Thousands attend every Wednesday. Yesterday there was probably a few more children out here because it is, after all, summer vacation. The farmer's market was just winding down yesterday afternoon when a maroon Buick went careening through the three blocks of the market, striking person after person. One of the nine killed was a 3-year-old girl.
The person apparently responsible is 86-year-old Russell Weller. He had just left the post office, police say, and then he told police that his foot may have slipped off the brake and onto the gas.
We talked to the police chief out here in Santa Monica today. He said that they have about 100 witnesses whose testimony they have to synthesize. They're going through the physical evidence here at the scene. And at some point they may bring charges.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF JAMES T. BUTTS, JR., SANTA MONICA POLICE DEPARTMENT: When you look at vehicular manslaughters, and that's what they are, seldom do you find that someone has formed the premeditated intent to kill. And so realistically, you would end up with an involuntary or voluntary manslaughter if a negligent homicide occurred.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: Now, the chief also said that his department served a warrant on Mr. Weller's address last night. They were looking for anything that might add to their investigation in the way of prescription drugs and the like. The one thing he did say that they found out there, though, that was interesting to him at least is that the garage door looked as though it had been hit by the car at some point. Whether or not that means anything in this investigation at this point, he's not entirely sure -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, CNN's Miguel Marquez, thanks for that report.
A terrifying tragedy like this can often bring out the very best in people.
Joe Chrisman was at the street market. He watched the entire horror unfold.
And he joins us this morning from Santa Monica.
Joe, good morning.
Thanks for joining us.
JOE CHRISMAN, WITNESS: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: You work near the farmer's market. What did you see?
CHRISMAN: Well, it's actually, I heard the sounds of metal on metal and people screaming and I looked out the window to see a car traveling by, at which point I ran outside with one of my bosses, who, you know, to our horror saw a man on the hood of a vehicle and an elderly gentleman being pulled from a car. And there was a very large Hispanic man who was yelling, "There's someone under the vehicle!" And a group of about 10 of us ran over and lifted the car and moved it off of this woman who emerged without any abrasions or scrapes. And she was breathing and to everyone's obviously god blessing, very happy to see her alive.
O'BRIEN: You had had plans to meet your sister for lunch there and you canceled them. But you were worried about maybe she went and was just going to head down there without you anyway. You ran up and down the street to try to find your sister. You weren't able to. Fortunately, she wasn't among any of the injured.
What did you do next?
CHRISMAN: Well, I took a sigh of relief and I was able to exhale at that point. I mean, not knowing if your sibling is, you know, one of the people who were down in all that carnage was, you know, emotionally very frustrating. At that point, I ran back and noticed people from the building where I work and members of the farmer's market aiding the people who were hurt. And I kind of went down the street looking to see where I could help and stopped a few people to console them and reassure them. And at that point helped organize moving a lot of these tents that were set up for the farmer's market out of the street so emergency vehicles could get in there and enter.
O'BRIEN: Joe, give me a sense, was there screaming and yelling? Were people just in shock and it was sort of quiet? What was it like at the scene?
CHRISMAN: You know, initially the sounds were, you know, the word that comes to mind is cacophonous. It was so loud with, you know, I thought I heard a horn on the car, but, you know, in the aftermath, it turned out it was really sort of quiet and, you know, with a few people yelling out, trying to identify, helping workers identify where the most critically injured people were and that sort of thing.
But it was a collective, it felt like a collective effort, you know, to get things scored in and get things out of the roadway and just to help, help people.
O'BRIEN: You saw the car whizzing by, you say. There are some reports that this driver may have been going as fast as 60 miles an hour as he traveled through all these pedestrians.
Does that sound about right to you?
CHRISMAN: You know, he was going extremely fast and for an area that is a tight little shoot with, you know, thousands of people, I mean it's tragic.
O'BRIEN: It's a horrible thing, I'm sure, to have had to have seen, you know, and jump in and help.
How are you holding up today?
CHRISMAN: Well, I'm doing pretty well. I got some sleep last night, so I'm happy with that.
O'BRIEN: All right, well, Joe Chrisman, thanks for jumping in and helping out and thanks to all the people in the area who did that, as well, and thanks for joining us, too.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
