Vehicle crashes into Mission Hills car dealership; 1 fatally injured

An investigation is continuing Thursday after a woman drove an SUV through a service bay and into the reception area of a Mission Hills car dealership — killing one person and sending two others to a hospital with lesser injuries.

The crash occurred at a Toyota dealership in the 11000 block of North Sepulveda Boulevard at about 9:10 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The department said an “elderly” woman who may have accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the brake drove the SUV into the covered service bay driveway and crashed into a customer reception area within the dealership.

A 56-year-old female customer was run over and briefly trapped beneath the vehicle, but was freed by bystanders, including a nurse who began performing CPR on the woman, who was not breathing and had no pulse, fire officials said. That woman was taken to a hospital in grave condition, but she later died, police said.

Her name was not immediately released.

Two men who worked at the dealership were also injured — a 23-year-old man with an arm laceration and a 35-year-old man with head and foot injuries, according to the fire department. Their injuries were considered non-life-threatening, but both were taken to a hospital in fair to serious condition.

The woman who was driving the SUV was examined by paramedics but did not appear to be injured and declined to be taken to a hospital, fire officials said. She remained at the scene and was interviewed by police before reportedly being released.

The vehicle she was driving had handicap license plates.

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