Rafu Wire Service and Staff Reports
A vehicle crashed into a commercial building and came to a stop inside a sushi restaurant in Studio City on Monday, but no injuries were reported.
The Los Angeles Fire Department responded at 1:35 p.m. to Akira Sushi in the 11800 block of Ventura Boulevard, according to Nicholas Prange with the LAFD.
Fire crews found the vehicle inside the structure and conducted a search for possibly injured people, but none were found. The driver had fled the scene.
LAFD Urban Search and Rescue specialists were assisting with the removal of the vehicle from the building, Prange said.
The structural integrity of the building was being assessed by building and safety officials.
Security footage shows a white Alfa Romeo sideswiping another car, colliding with a third vehicle, veering off the road and slamming into the front of the restaurant, which was closed at the time. LAPD officers said the driver took off with a dog in tow.
KCAL News quoted witnesses as saying that the driver was bleeding from the head and appeared to be wearing an ankle monitor. One witness said that the suspect got into a cab a short distance away.
On Thursday, KCAL News reported that the man in the video is not the registered owner of the car. Police said that until they know the man’s name, the ankle monitor cannot be used to locate him.
A sign on the boarded-up storefront reads, “We are temporarily closed for remodeling. We will be back soon. Thank you for waiting!”
Akira Sushi, which recently opened at the former site of Susan Manders Art Experience, “offers a fresh, creative and respectful interpretation of Japanese cuisine,” according to its website.