Suspected DUI Driver Arrested After Car Kills 3, Injures 6 In SD

SAN DIEGO, CA — A suspected DUI driver was behind bars Tuesday on suspicion of killing three homeless people and injuring six others when his car jumped a curb in an East Village tunnel near San Diego City College and plowed into a makeshift encampment on the roadside.

Craig Martin Voss, 71 of San Diego, was arrested at the scene of the crash in the 1500 block of B Street shortly after 9 a.m. Monday, according to San Diego police.

Voss was behind the wheel of a westbound Volvo station wagon that veered to the right, off the roadway, and struck the transients, who were on a wide sidewalk amid several tents and various personal items, said SDPD Chief David Nisleit.

The fatally injured victims died at the scene, Nisleit said. Paramedics took five others to hospitals for treatment of injuries varying from severe to less serious, and treated another person at the scene for minor trauma.

Two of the victims were admitted to UC San Diego Medical Center in critical condition, but were awake and answering questions as of Monday afternoon, NBC7 reported.

SDPD Officer John Buttle said an update on the victims' conditions was not immediately available Tuesday morning.

"I don't know if people were sleeping, if people were sitting there (at the time of the crash)," Nisleit told reporters during a late-morning briefing Monday.

Voss tried to provide aid to the victims prior to the arrival of emergency crews, Nisleit said. After being questioned by officers, Voss was arrested and booked into San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, causing great bodily injury during the commission of a felony and DUI.

He remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail pending arraignment, scheduled for March 23, according to jail records.

Just prior to the wreck, police got a call from a person reporting a possible intoxicated driver in the area behind the wheel of a vehicle matching the description of the suspect's, according to Nisleit.

Investigators believe it was the same car that crashed onto the crowded sidewalk minutes later, the chief said.

All those struck by the vehicle were homeless, according to Council President Pro Tem Stephen Whitburn.

"As we have learned that all nine victims are a part of our unsheltered community, this is stark evidence of the need to find permanent solutions to the homelessness crisis so that no San Diegans are forced to seek shelter in unsafe places, such as under bridges and in tunnels that vehicles pass through," Whitburn said in a prepared statement Monday.

The stretch of roadside where the crash occurred -- in a long underpass beneath the downtown college -- is commonly occupied by squatters seeking shelter from inclement weather, such as the periodic rain that fell in the city Monday, Mayor Todd Gloria said.

"Let me state it very clearly -- a street is not a home," Gloria told reporters Monday. "It's not humane or safe to keep allowing our unsheltered neighbors to sleep under bridges, in alleys or in canyons. We must take decisive action to provide more compassionate solutions for people experiencing homelessness. ... As mayor, I've been clear -- we will not turn a blind eye to homelessness. We will deal with it head-on."

— City News Service