The 71-year-old driver of the vehicle, a Volvo station wagon, tried to provide assistance and identified himself to officers. He is under investigation for driving with a disability, San Diego police chief David Nisleit said in a media briefing.
Most of the crash happened in a tunnel in the center under an underpass, where Chief Nisleit says many people took shelter from the rain.
“I don’t know if people were sleeping, or if people were sitting there,” Nisleit said. He didn’t call the area a homeless camp, but it appeared that several tents and personal belongings had been placed along the sidewalk.
Police received a radio call about a vehicle that matched the Volvo’s description minutes before the crash, but police were not tracking him at the time of the incident, Nisleit said.
The incident, reported just after 9 a.m., took place in the 1400 block of B Street near San Diego City College.
“I’m like whoa! Will this man ever stop?” Williams said the driver got out of his car and hid his face and “casually walked away”.
Another witness, Michael Luke, told KGTV that the driver had stayed on the scene and looked distraught.
“I saw the wagon drive and things were just starting to pop up … and the towing … awful,” Luke said.
The investigation is ongoing.