Longtime Fox11 reporter Hal Eisner was recovering in the hospital Sunday after he was injured along with four other people when an SUV driven by an allegedly drunk driver crashed into a storefront on Hollywood Boulevard on Friday.
“As I lay here in a hospital bed at Cedars-Sinai I want to take a minute to say thank you, I love you, you're amazing and I'm grateful. I'm grateful to be alive,” Esiner wrote on Facebook. “I'm grateful for all of your heartfelt comments and the many feelings you've expressed since Friday's awful auto-pedestrian crash that involved FOX11 photographer Joab Perez, myself and three other people on Hollywood Blvd.”
“I have a gash on my right hand, a knee fracture and pretty serious and painful back spasms. I have a leg brace, my hand is wrapped and the spasms are very painful. But, I will get over this. One of the best meds has been your caring and outreach! Thank you for your love and support! Hugs!”
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The vehicle struck a group of pedestrians on the sidewalk as it crashed into the front of the Highland Market at 6818 Hollywood Blvd. near the El Capitan Theatre at about 3:05 p.m., the Los Angeles Fire Department reported.
A Los Angeles Police Department spokesman said the motorist, who was not immediately identified, was driving the wrong way when he veered off the road in the Hollywood Walk of Fame tourist area. He was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.
The LAFD reported that four patients were taken to a trauma center in serious to critical condition, and a fifth person declined to be taken to a hospital.
Eisner and Perez were in the area to cover the reopening of the El Capitan Theatre at 6838 Hollywood Blvd., which had been closed for nearly a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.