Like most cities in the U.S., Los Angeles is a city built for cars. People are allowed to live there, too, but ultimately, the city belongs to the cars. The people who drive those cars also crash them constantly. But hey, at least if you get into a bad wreck, there are some great hospitals nearby, and you can count on emergency responders to take care of you, right? Not necessarily. As the Los Angeles Times reports, you might just find yourself in a Russian nesting doll of crashes that's so ridiculous, it would almost be funny if it weren't so serious.
As you can probably guess, this saga starts with a car crash. We don't have many details on the initial crash, but it was serious enough that at least one of the victims needed to be taken to the hospital. That was probably pretty scary for the victim and their loved ones, but the Los Angeles Fire Department had it under control and dispatched an ambulance to get the victim to the hospital. That appears to have gone smoothly enough, but once the victim was in the back of the ambulance and headed for treatment, things took a bizarre twist.
Another LA driver crashed into the ambulance, something one of my new nurse friends would probably describe as "not exactly ideal." That crash then required the battalion chief to drive out and investigate what had happened. Except when they arrived on the scene, they were involved in yet another crash. Yikes. Also, what the hell, LA drivers? First responders have a hard enough time as it is without people crashing into them all the time.
The crash that kicked this whole thing off reportedly took place during morning rush hour, with the next crash occurring at 9:06 a.m. in Reseda, an area of LA that sits northwest of Sherman Oaks. According to a LAFD spokesperson, a car described only as "a light gray sedan" hit the ambulance near the intersection of Vanowen Street and Lindley Avenue. KTLA obtained footage from the crash, though, that shows it was an old Honda Civic.
Reseda may barely be LA, but in true LA fashion, it took a full 40 minutes for the battalion chief to arrive on the scene with the LAPD in tow. Who hit who here still isn't clear, with the LA Times saying they "collided with a vehicle in the same intersection" and KTLA reporting "an LAFD battalion chief responding to investigate the crash was also involved in a collision at the same intersection — this time with a dark gray sedan." Whether the battalion chief caused the crash or not, that's still two extra crashes in addition to the one that started this whole thing in the first place.
Thankfully, the two follow-up crashes didn't result in any deaths or serious injuries, and the only person taken to the hospital after was the crash victim, who was already in the ambulance and headed that way. According to the LA Times, they only sustained minor injuries from the Civic driver crashing into their ambulance, but we don't know if they've been released yet.