One killed as car plows into busy US seaside boardwalk

LOS ANGELES, California - Agence France-Presse

In this image take from a security camera, pedestrians scatter as a car drives through a packed afternoon crowd along the Venice Beach boardwalk in Los Angeles, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013. AP Photo/Snapchat

One person was killed and eleven injured when a driver plowed his car through a crowd on southern California's Venice Beach boardwalk on Saturday evening, officials said.

Police and witnesses said the driver of the dark-colored sedan fled the scene, but hours later police said they had found the car and detained a male suspect in his 20s for questioning. Officials said one person died but gave no details.
 
One person was also critically injured, two suffered serious injuries and the rest had minor injuries, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said.
 
"All I saw was a car emerging from the crowd driving southbound on the boardwalk, just plowing through whomever was in its way," boardwalk vendor Scott Levinsky told local NBC4News.
 
Some witnesses said the vehicle was traveling at 60 miles per hour, though others said it was going slower.

The car plowed through the boardwalk around 0100 GMT Sunday, and some five hours later police said they had a detained a suspect.
 
"We've located that vehicle quite a distance from here in the city of Santa Monica," police Lieutenant Andy Neiman told local NBC4.
 
The suspect, who surrendered to police, "left driving that vehicle," Neiman said.

Officials closed down five blocks of the boardwalk -- renowned for its performers, fortune tellers, and fitness enthusiasts who gather at Muscle Beach -- for what they say is a homicide investigation.