Police: driver kills 2 at SXSW festival in Texas

A suspected drunken driver fleeing police crashed through barricades set up for a major festival in Texas today, killing two people and injuring 23 others on a crowded street.
The crash stunned revelers at the annual South By Southwest music, film and interactive gathering that draws tens of thousands to Austin each year, and where NSA leaker Edward Snowden had spoken via live video conference from Moscow three days earlier.
The two people who died were on a moped that the motorist hit at about 12:30 a.M. As he tried to evade a pursuing police officer, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo told reporters at a news conference.

The driver also struck pedestrians in front of a club that was emptying and hit a cab before crashing, jumping out of his car and trying to run, Acevedo said. A pursuing officer shocked him with a stun gun and took him into custody.
Two of people who were hurt have serious, life-threatening head injuries, according to Dr. Christopher Ziebell, the emergency department director at the University Medical Center-Brackenridge. He said three other patients are in serious condition, but are expected to recover.
Ziebell said the driver was treated for minor injuries before he was released into police custody.

The man, whose name was not released, faces two counts of capital murder and 23 counts of aggravated assault with a vehicle, the chief said.

Many revelers were getting real-time reports of the accident from social media.
The street was full of concert-goers just minutes before the crash, but officials had cleared the street because it was a fire lane. Acevedo did not identify the driver or the victims and asked witnesses and those who may have taken video to contact police rather than post it to the Internet.
He said all the injured were taken to area hospitals. Police said the man pulled into a nearby gas station after an officer tried to stop him, wove through cars and then took off at a high speed the wrong way down a one-way street.

He took a right turn on Red River Street, crashing through a barricade and narrowly missing a police officer who was standing guard, they said.
He hit some of the victims in front of The Mohawk, a local club hosting Spin events during the five-day music conference, police said. He continued down the street where he struck and killed the two victims on the moped and then hit the cab before finally crashing, they said.
Officers had closed off a two-block section of downtown Austin and continued to investigate into the early morning. Acevedo said there were no plans to change safety protocols at the festival.