Authorities: Lindsay Lohan in West Hollywood traffic crash
By DENISE PETSKI, Associated Press Writer
Posted: Tuesday October 4th, 2005, 6:30 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday October 4th, 2005, 7:00 PM
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A black Mercedes-Benz driven by actress Lindsay Lohan collided with a van on a West Hollywood street on Tuesday afternoon, according to television news reports and a witness who said he saw the crash.
It wasn't immediately known if anybody was hurt. A reporter for the syndicated television show "The Insider" said she was filming a segment for her show in the city adjacent to Beverly Hills when she witnessed the accident at about 4:15 p.m. The Insider reporter, Victoria Recano, told The Associated Press she saw Lohan and a passenger from her car run into an antique store immediately after the accident.
Javier Ramirez, who works at Hideaway House antiques, said he recognized Lohan.
"She was very upset," Ramirez told The Associated Press. "She kept saying, 'Oh my God, oh my God, I can't believe it.'"
Deputy Diane Hect of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department confirmed Lohan was involved in the crash, but said no other details were immediately available.
Ramirez said Lohan and her passenger left after a few minutes and although both were shaken up, neither appeared badly hurt.
Television news footage showed a badly damaged black Mercedes outside the store with both its driver- and passenger-side air bags inflated.
The crash was the second one Lohan, 19, has been involved in in recent months.
A tourist from New Orleans who witnessed the crash said it sounded "like a bomb went off."
"All of a sudden just squeals, braking," said Katherine Star, 50. Moments before the crash, Star said, she saw a group of photographers pursuing someone who had just left a restaurant down the street from the crash site.
Police said the star of such films as "Mean Girls" and "Herbie: Fully Loaded" was attempting to evade a paparazzi photographer in June when the photographer crashed his car into her Mercedes. She suffered cuts and bruises in that crash but did not seek medical attention.
The photographer was arrested for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon. Police said it appeared he deliberately crashed into the actress' vehicle.
And another UPDATE, minor to moderate injuries involved
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CA_LOHAN_ACCIDENT_CAOL-?SITE=CADIU&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Authorities: Lindsay Lohan in West Hollywood traffic crash
By DENISE PETSKI
Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Lindsay Lohan and two other people were taken to a hospital after the actress' black Mercedes-Benz convertible collided with a van in West Hollywood on Tuesday afternoon, authorities reported.
Witnesses said Lohan was trying to avoid paparazzi photographers when the crash occurred. The actress was also involved in a traffic accident last June as she tried to avoid a photographer.
Lohan and a female passenger in her car suffered minor injuries, said Sgt. Diane Hecht of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The driver of the van, which was knocked into a parked vehicle, suffered moderate injuries, Hecht said. Identities of Lohan's passenger and the male driver of the van were not immediately released.
The accident, which occurred about 4:15 p.m. on a busy street in this city adjacent to Beverly Hills, was witnessed by a number of people, including a reporter for the syndicated television show "The Insider."
The reporter, Victoria Recano, told The Associated Press she saw Lohan and her passenger run into an antique store immediately after the accident.
Javier Ramirez, who works at Hideaway House antiques, said he recognized Lohan.
"She was very upset," Ramirez said. "She kept saying, 'Oh my God, oh my God, I can't believe it.'"
Ramirez said Lohan and her passenger left after a few minutes and although both were shaken up, neither appeared badly hurt.
Television news footage showed a badly damaged black Mercedes outside the store with both its driver- and passenger-side air bags inflated
The Sheriff's Department said the driver of the van appeared to be turning in front of Lohan's car when the vehicles collided. There was no evidence alcohol was involved in the crash, Hecht said in a news release.
Witnesses said dozens of paparazzi photographers had been following Lohan through the area before the crash. At one point, according to Lori Satzberg, 43, of Calabasas, several photographers tried to take pictures of Lohan as she shopped at a clothing store. The photographers then followed her outside to her car.
"There were about 30 photographers outside covering the store, the poor girl just was shopping and they were just like hounding her," said Satzberg, who was shopping with her 13-year-old daughter.
"She got into her black Mercedes across the street and they literally were like sitting on her car, trying to take pictures of her, she was like yelling at them to get off," Satzberg said.
"These people were all over her," she added. "I'm not surprised this happened."
The crash was the second one Lohan, 19, has been involved in in recent months.
Police said the star of such films as "Mean Girls" and "Herbie: Fully Loaded" was attempting to evade a paparazzi photographer in June when the photographer crashed his car into her Mercedes. She suffered cuts and bruises in that crash but did not seek medical attention.
The photographer was arrested for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon. Police said it appeared he deliberately crashed into the actress' vehicle.
Just think, a scant 3 weeks ago we would have been arguing that this tourist was either a refugee or an evacuee, certainly not a simple tourist slumming in West Hollywood or Beverly Hills where real people have real problems like crashing their Mercedes into a lousy street van.