Three people were injured, including a 9-year-old girl, when the driver of a Porsche apparently mistook the gas pedal for the brake and plowed into a terminal wall at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday, police said.
The car was making its way through the departures level at Terminal 7 just before 5 p.m. when it suddenly "lunged" onto the sidewalk and crashed into a utility room above a stairwell, coming to rest about three-fourths of the way inside, said Sgt. Roy Ceja of the Los Angeles Police Department.
The girl, a pedestrian, was hospitalized in critical condition, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said. The 67-year-old driver and his passenger were also taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Ceja said officers had not formally interviewed the driver, but said they were investigating the crash only as an "accident." The driver will not face charges, police said Monday morning.
"He was not inebriated in any way from our initial investigation" Ceja said.
Despite the gaping hole in the wall, LAFD Battalion Chief Armando Hogan said there was "no extensive damage" done to the structure.
Operations at the airport were not affected by the crash, Ceja said.
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Editor's Note: Police initially reported the injured girl's age as 9, then revised the figure to 7 years old, before correcting her age to 9 for a second time. Previous versions of this article reflected the information given by police.
