MATTHEW HALL
Daily Press Editor
The Santa Monica Police and Fire Departments are both pursuing active investigations after a trio of serious weekend incidents.
Officials are pursuing a pair of arson investigations and following up on an early morning crash that closed a section of PCH.
The first fire occurred early Saturday morning on the south side of Garage 5 in Downtown when homeless activity resulted in the destruction of one elevator cab. No one was reported injured but the blaze happened at about the same time as an accident on PCH.
At about 3 a.m. a party bus crashed into another vehicle on the 1000 block of PCH sending one passenger from the other vehicle to the hospital. According to SMPD, ten passengers in the bus sustained minor injuries and the incident closed the freeway at 4th Street for the duration of the investigation.
SMPD said the driver of the bus had fled the scene prior to officers arriving and the passengers provided very little information regarding the driver.
The second fire occurred Sunday morning at the Goodwill location on 25th and Santa Monica.
A neighboring residence was evacuated during the fire and footage from the scene shows an individual in the area prior to the fire.
Firefighters were able to save the building and while the business was destroyed Goodwill said they planned to reopen after repairs. Investigators said they were waiting on a safety inspection before entering the building on Monday morning.
editor@smdp.com
