A silver hybrid sedan jumped a curb near the Detroit Street roundabout Friday night and plowed into the wrought-iron security gate of an apartment building on Lexington Avenue, leaving the car wedged against the entrance stairwell and the gate badly mangled. Nobody got hurt, including the driver.
Deputies from the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station rolled Code 3 to 7120 Lexington Avenue, at the corner of Detroit, just after 10 p.m. A 911 caller reported a car into a building. LA County Fire responded as well and checked the structure. Their verdict: no structural damage. The gate took the hit hard — that was it.
WEHOonline was on scene and spoke with deputies and the driver.
The driver, an elderly man who declined to give his name, told WEHOonline he was driving on Detroit when he clipped the curb near the roundabout. That was enough. The car jumped the sidewalk and drove straight into the iron gate, bending it hard off its frame. Cops determined he was not speeding.
Field Sobriety Check, No Injuries
Deputies conducted a field sobriety check with the driver on scene. He passed. A deputy also asked whether he’d hit his head in the crash. He said no.
A responding deputy told WEHOonline the call came in as a basic traffic collision. “No injuries,” the deputy said. “And no one in the building was injured.” LA County Fire confirmed to deputies that the building suffered no structural damage. It looked worse than it was — cosmetic only, with the mangled gate taking the brunt of the damage.
Deputies Urged Driver to Get a Tow
With the assessment complete, deputies turned to the car. The front-end damage was obvious. They told the driver it wasn’t in his best interest to try to drive it out. “It’s in your best interest to get a tow because of the damage,” a deputy told him on scene.
They offered to call a towing company on his behalf. The driver said he had his own AAA membership and turned them down, insisting he’d handle it. He wanted to first see if he could drive it home. Deputies made the offer twice, telling him the car didn’t look drivable.
Building residents gathered on the balcony upstairs and worked to get management company contact information to deputies so a report number could be issued for the building’s insurance claim. One resident had just returned from London and was in a bit of shock when he arrived and saw what happened. He first asked if it was safe to enter the building, then carried on.
A Tough Night
The driver was shaken but uninjured. His car was another story — it appeared to be a total loss. A neighbor summed it up simply. “It’s a tough night,” he told the driver. “Sorry to hear that for you.”
The cause remains under investigation. The driver’s own account pointed to the Detroit Street roundabout curb as the start of it.
Related Coverage:
• Chaos at Beverly Connection: Lexus Plowed Into FedEx Office
• West Hollywood Trader Joe’s Crash Sends Elderly Driver to Hospital After Gas-Brake Confusion
• Elderly Driver Hits Wall At WeHo’s Plummer Park
