time to ban cars?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001-02-24-pedestrians.htm
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Police investigate driver’s motives

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) ? Authorities are investigating whether a college freshman intentionally drove his car into a crowd of people near the school, killing four and wounding another person.

David Edward Attias, an 18-year-old student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Santa Barbara Superior Court in connection with the Friday crash.

He is being held without bail in the Santa Barbara County Jail for investigation of vehicular homicide and felony drunken driving.

“We are investigating the potential that it was an intentional act,” said Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Lt. Mike Burridge.

Witnesses told police the car speed down a crowded street in the university community of Isla Vista late Friday, traveling at an estimated 60 to 65 mph. The vehicle sideswiped nine parked cars and struck five people walking along the street.

Witnesses told the Santa Barbara News-Press that they heard driver shout, “I am the Angel of Death.” Burridge said authorities could not confirm that account.

Results of blood tests to detect drugs or alcohol won’t be known for about a week, Burridge said.

Killed in the crash were Nicholas Shaw Bourdakis and Christopher Edward Divis, both 20 and UCSB students; Ruth Dasha Golda Levy, 20, a Santa Barbara City College student; and Elie Israel, 27, of San Francisco.

Levy’s older brother, Albert Arthur Levy, 27, remained in critical condition Sunday after undergoing multiple surgeries.

Attias suffered minor cuts and scratches.

A spokeswoman for the 19,000-student university said a campus memorial service was being organized.

“This terrible tragedy leaves all members of our university family stunned and saddened and our hearts go out to the families of the victims of this terrible accident,” said school Chancellor Henry T. Yang.

Police at the Santa Barbara County Jail said Attias could not take a phone call from The Associated Press for comment.

Attias has the same Santa Monica address as Daniel Attias, a television director who has worked on “Ally McBeal” and “The Sopranos,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

“We have no comment except for the terrible grief we feel for all the families involved,” Daniel Attias told the Times.

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