Austin American-Statesman | Associated Press
Two people died and 23 were injured early Thursday when a car drove into a crowd outside a nightclub in Austin, Texas. The car’s driver was evading a drunk-driving stop, the Austin American-Statesman reports.
According to police, the man, driving a small Toyota car, went the wrong way down Ninth Street after evading a stop at a gas station around 12:30 a.m., turned onto Red River and drove for more than two blocks, striking numerous pedestrians before hitting a scooter traveling on 11th Street, killing the man and woman on board. The driver then struck a taxi, injuring two, and crashed into a parked van, Police Chief Art Acevedo said.
The crowd was outside the Mohawk nightclub, where a showcase performance for SXSW had taken place. The club was hosting events for Spin, AP reports.
The suspect attempted to flee on foot but was subdued with a stun gun, AP reports.
“We had a large crowd,” Acevedo said at a 2:30 a.m. news conference. “I just thank God that a lot of the folks had already been pushed on the sidewalk or this could have been a lot worse.”
Here’s the scene outside of Mohawk right now at #sxsw after a car ran through dozens of people. pic.twitter.com/XwdspxOf3o
— Colin Kerrigan (@colinkerrigan) March 13, 2014
EMS: Got all serious patients off the scene of crash in 15 minutes. All injured people off scene in 47 minutes. #sxsw pic.twitter.com/5p0V0RAO4C
— Brian A. Hernandez (@BAHjournalist) March 13, 2014
