A man was taken to the hospital after losing control of his car near USC Village on Thursday morning, crashing into a parked car on the other side of the street and nearly hitting oncoming traffic before overturning, according to officials and dashcam footage reviewed by Annenberg Media.
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department had no update on the driver’s condition as of noon Thursday. USC Department of Public Safety Assistant Chief David Carlisle described the driver as an elderly man and said no one from USC was involved in the crash.
After the crash, Hoover Street was closed to traffic until about noon, according to a TrojansAlert message.
About 10:45 a.m., the man was driving a black Kia southbound on Hoover Street between West 32nd Street and Jefferson Boulevard before crossing into the opposite lane, narrowly missing an oncoming vehicle and colliding with a parked white Toyota Camry, the dash cam footage showed.
The impact of the crash pushed the Camry into a coffee truck called Drip Daddy and sent car pieces flying toward the sidewalk, according to two witnesses interviewed by Annenberg Media.
Alex Amari, owner of Drip Daddy, said he and his workers were “shook up” from the incident, since he was standing just feet from the collision, and one of his employees was in the truck. The front of the truck appeared slightly damaged, with the fender leaning off, though Amari said he was more worried about the individuals involved in the crash.
“We’re not really concerned about the damage,” Amari said. “We’re concerned about the individual that got hurt. Concerned about my employees. Obviously, this is not a great situation for anybody.”
Judith Sullivan was drinking a Drip Daddy coffee while sitting on a nearby ledge when the crash occurred, she said. Sullivan said she heard a loud noise before turning to see pieces of the vehicles flying toward her, prompting her to dive into nearby grass.
“I’m OK. I’m just shook up. I’m OK, though,” Sullivan said. “If that car hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t be talking to you. Really amazing.”
Gian Marco Velasquez contributed reporting.
Edited by Miranda Huang and Caitlin Roehmholdt.