A man driving a Honda CRV plowed into a large group of law enforcement cadets during a training run in a Los Angeles suburb, injuring 25 people, five of them critically, the Los Angeles Times reports. The incident happened near the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s STARS Center training academy, in unincorporated Los Angeles County, Deputy David Yoo said. The victims, from Academy Class 464, included recruits for the sheriff's department and other local agencies. The 22-year-old driver, who sped the wrong way down the street, was detained at the scene by cadets. Sources told the Times the driver said he was sleepy. Though he tested negative for alcohol, authorities suspect he may have been impaired by drugs.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva said injuries included head trauma and broken bones, and “we have had some loss of limb,” noting that one of the five critical patients “is currently on a ventilator.” About 75 recruits running in formation when the SUV veered into their group. The group was running with drill instructors as well as two black-and-white radio cars as safety vehicles, and eight road guards who were wearing reflective vests. Recruits were running in four columns when a vehicle approached at 30 to 40 mph. Those at the front of the column were able to get out of the way before the SUV struck others and then crashed into a light pole. At least one of the recruits suffered cranial bleeding and was listed in critical condition, according to a source familiar with the mass casualty incident. “It looked like an airplane wreck,” Villanueva said. “There was so many bodies scattered everywhere in different states of injury that it was pretty traumatic for all individuals involved.” The injuries are all “survivable,” he said, and he expects the recruits to recover, but he and others in the department have never seen an incident involving so many recruits.