The FBI is assisting California officials in the investigation of a motorist who appeared to deliberately plow into a group of people, injuring eight, authorities said Wednesday.
Prentice Danner, a spokesman for the FBI’s field office in San Francisco, said the Sunnyvale Police Department is the lead agency in the investigation but that the bureau will become more involved “if it is determined a federal crime was committed.”
Sunnyvale Police Cpt. Jim Choi said the driver of the car was arrested and has been identified but that his name is not being made public to avoid compromising the investigation.
He said the department notified the FBI after the Tuesday evening crash because “we are making sure we are looking at all the possible motives and angles.”
Witnesses told investigators the motorist was speeding and drove directly toward the pedestrians without trying to veer away or stop the car before striking them, Choi said.
Some of the witness statements “show that the driver did not try to avoid the pedestrians at the cross walk, and there was no attempt to swerve, drive away or brake,” he said.
Some of the eight people injured were at a corner or on the cross walk when the car hit them before smashing into a tree, he said. The crosswalk remains closed Wednesday as officials investigate.
A 13-year-old boy and seven others were taken to the hospital Tuesday evening after the crash near a shopping center in Sunnyvale, more than an hour south of San Francisco, Choi said. An update on their conditions was expected later Wednesday.
