Police say the speeding car hit two pedestrians, slammed into occupied and parked vehicles, and crashed into a home.
NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CA — Two pedestrians were killed early Sunday when a driver Los Angeles police say was speeding and under the influence of alcohol struck them on a residential street, then barreled into several vehicles and a house before he was taken into custody.
The crash turned a quiet block in North Hollywood into a broad crime scene and left investigators treating the case as more than a traffic collision. Police said the suspect, identified as Vidal Cruz Jr. of Pacoima, was later booked on two counts of murder after officers concluded he had been driving at an unsafe speed while impaired. The collision also injured three people who were inside a parked car and caused major damage to private property, adding to the scale of the destruction and raising immediate questions about how a single speeding car could leave such a wide path of damage.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the crash happened at about 2:25 a.m. on Colfax Avenue, north of Calvert Street. Investigators said a gray Acura was traveling north when it struck a man in his 30s and a woman in her 50s who had just stepped out of the rear driver’s side of a white Toyota Camry stopped along the curb. The Acura also hit the Camry, which still had three occupants inside. One victim, a man, was pronounced dead at the scene. The woman was taken to a hospital, where she later died. Police said the force of the impact threw both victims forward onto the roadway as the Acura kept moving up the block.
Officers said the driver did not stop after the first impact. Instead, the Acura continued in a northeast direction, entered a private driveway and crashed into several unoccupied parked vehicles before slamming into a home. Television video from the scene showed a smashed gate, wrecked cars and a large hole in part of the structure. A neighbor interviewed near the damaged property said he woke up to the sound of the crash in his yard. Police have said three people who remained inside the Camry suffered minor injuries. Authorities did not immediately release the names of the two dead pedestrians Sunday because relatives had not yet been notified, and investigators had not publicly said whether the victims and the Camry’s occupants were part of the same group.
The wreck added to a long list of deadly Southern California DUI cases that have drawn sharper scrutiny because of the level of destruction beyond the initial strike. In this case, investigators described a sequence that began with two people stepping out of a parked car and ended with crushed vehicles and structural damage to a house. That broader damage footprint is one reason the crash quickly became a major police investigation rather than a routine fatal collision inquiry. The street in question runs through a dense North Hollywood neighborhood with closely spaced homes, driveways and curbside parking, conditions that can turn a high-speed crash into a chain-reaction event in seconds. By Sunday afternoon, evidence markers, damaged property and police tape still framed the scene while authorities worked to reconstruct the Acura’s path and speed.
Police said their investigation found that Cruz had been driving under the influence of alcohol and at an unsafe speed. He was arrested, taken to a hospital for treatment and later booked at the Van Nuys Jail on suspicion of two counts of murder. Authorities set bail at $4 million. The use of murder counts in California DUI cases often signals an allegation that a driver acted with conscious disregard for life, though prosecutors had not publicly detailed any formal charging decision beyond the booking information Sunday. It was not immediately clear whether Cruz had retained a lawyer or when he would make an initial court appearance. Investigators with the LAPD’s Valley Traffic Division are expected to continue reviewing physical evidence, witness accounts and any surveillance footage from nearby homes and businesses as they build the case.
By daylight, the block showed the violence of the collision in scattered pieces: broken fencing, mangled metal, shattered glass and damaged cars left at angles along the curb and driveway. Residents stepped outside to look over the wreckage while police officers and firefighters moved through the scene. The home struck by the Acura appeared to have taken a hard blow on one side, though police have not said whether anyone inside was injured. Publicly released details remained limited on the victims themselves beyond their approximate ages, leaving neighbors and relatives waiting for official identification. What was already clear by Sunday night, though, was the final toll: two people dead, three others hurt, one home damaged and a suspected impaired driver facing a case that investigators say now centers on criminal liability as much as traffic reconstruction.
As of late Sunday, the victims’ identities had not been released and police had not announced a court date, but the investigation remained active. The next major milestone is expected to be the filing or review of charges and the public release of additional details from police or prosecutors in the coming days.
Author note: Last updated April 13, 2026.