January 13, 2026

A 26-foot U-Haul moving truck drove into a crowd of demonstrators advocating for the dismantling of Iran’s current regime during a rally in Westwood on Sunday, Jan. 11. Authorities said no serious injuries were reported.

Police identified the driver as Calor Madanescht, 48. He was taken into custody and booked on suspicion of reckless driving. He was charged with a misdemeanor and released on his own recognizance on Monday. His next court date is scheduled for Feb. 2. Authorities allege Madanescht deliberately drove the truck into the protest area. Investigators said they do not view the incident as terrorism or politically driven, and said the driver does not have a known criminal record. The FBI was present and working alongside LAPD as investigators assess motive.

The Sunday afternoon rally drew an estimated 3,000 people and included Persian Jews, Christians, Muslims and atheists. The march moved south down Veteran Avenue toward Wilshire Boulevard, one block from the Wilshire Federal Building.

The truck entered the crowd by turning left onto northbound Veteran Avenue from Ohio Avenue. The truck came to a stop at the corner as it was turning, with its hazard lights flashing. There was no police obstruction stationed at Ohio and Veteran. Messages visible on paper and fabric signs bolted to the truck included: “No Shah,” “No Regime,” “USA: Don’t Repeat 1953” and “No Mullah.”

With the truck stopped at the corner, people shouted and pounded on the vehicle with their hands and flagpoles. Several of the signs attached to the truck were torn down by members of the crowd. After about one minute, someone smashed the passenger-side window. A man climbed onto the hood and then the roof and tried to rip a yellow sign written in Farsi from the right side. Rally attendees approached the window and shouted at the driver, who appeared frustrated.

Witnesses said some people believed the truck had stopped and did not expect it to move again. Others began shouting warnings as the vehicle advanced.

As the crowd continued southbound, the truck, now northbound on Veteran Avenue, appeared slowed or stopped, then began revving its engine and moving forward into the street occupied by marchers. People shouted warnings and moved toward the west sidewalk as the truck accelerated through the crowd.

About two minutes after the passenger-side window was smashed, the truck drove forward in four short bursts — about 10 feet at a time — north on Veteran Avenue. The crowd screamed. Those bursts alerted people farther up the truck’s path, who parted before the vehicle accelerated. 

Witnesses said some people stumbled or fell as others pulled children and older adults toward the sidewalk. The crowd included children, older adults and people with disabilities.

The truck was honking as it accelerated past a building at 1441 Veteran Avenue. At that location, a man in a dark red plaid shirt jumped onto the running board below the driver’s-side door and began pounding on the window with his left fist. He continued for 53 seconds as the truck traveled roughly 1,000 feet north past Westwoof Dog Park. A crowd of at least 50 people, mostly men, chased the vehicle. The truck came to a stop near the intersection of Veteran Avenue and Rochester Avenue, angled northeast.

A 38-year-old man who fled Iran two years ago and asked that his name not be published said he was walking south on Veteran Avenue when he saw the truck approaching. “I saw a huge U-Haul truck coming towards us,” the man told The Journal. “First, he was driving kind of slowly, but then he pushed the gas. We ran after him with the other people to stop him. I saw people grabbing the steering wheel.”

Video reviewed by The Journal did not conclusively show whether the truck stopped due to protesters encroaching on the cab. It remains unclear when the driver-side window was broken.

After the truck stopped, people punched and prodded the driver with flagpoles that appeared to be made of PVC pipe. Bystanders partially removed the driver from the cab before police intervened to arrest him and form a barrier. At least two people appeared to shove LAPD officers during the arrest.

“They took him out of the car,” the man said. “They opened the door, but the seatbelt was still fastened.”

In the minutes after the stop, some witnesses believed marchers near Ohio Avenue had been struck or killed. Police initially reported that one person had been hit by the truck but did not report any injury. LAPD later said no one came forward reporting they had been struck by the vehicle.

The Los Angeles Fire Department said two individuals were checked by responders at the scene and declined medical care. Authorities said no ambulances were requested or dispatched.

There did not appear to be blood on the front of the truck. Blood observed by The Journal was limited to the passenger-side door near the shattered window, which appeared consistent with people cutting their hands on broken glass. There was no indication that anyone had been trapped beneath the vehicle.

Police said the driver sustained injuries during the confrontation after the truck stopped.

Afrouz Demeri, who came to the rally from Orange County, filmed the truck driving toward her and captured the moment it stopped and the crowd began attacking the driver. The video has been viewed nearly 1 million times on Instagram.

Demeri attended both the Los Angeles rally and a similar protest in Orange County days earlier. “Orange County was very different than this one, it was much more chanting, there was music and it was very, very peaceful,” Demeri told The Journal.

She said she was standing in the middle of the street facing the truck as it approached. “I was literally facing the truck,” Demeri said. She said she did not initially believe the driver would hit anyone. “For some reason I wasn’t scared,” Demeri said. “I didn’t even think that he was going to hit somebody.” 

Demeri said she observed police officers nearby and did not see them intervene while the driver was being beaten. “They didn’t do anything when the guy was being beaten up,” Demeri said. She said she left the immediate area after the violence escalated. “When this guy grabbed the end of a pole and started stabbing him, that’s when I got very emotional and I just thought, ‘Oh my God, they’re going to kill this guy.’ I thought the driver died because of the way the flagpole was being stabbed in his chest.”

After police handcuffed the driver and led him away, members of the crowd continued trying to strike him. One man in a green hoodie hit the driver from behind with a flagpole as police escorted him toward a squad car on Rochester Avenue. Officers drew batons and warned people to stay back.

The driver appeared cooperative while in custody. Blood was visible on the back of his head. Police placed him in a patrol vehicle as some in the crowd struck the police car before officers cleared the area.

Broken glass littered the street and the step of the truck’s cab. Small blood smudges remained on the passenger-side door. The cargo area and cab appeared empty, with no visible weapons or materials.

In the minutes after the driver was arrested, many witnesses ran south towards Ohio Avenue and Rochester Avenue thinking there would be dozens of severely injured people. Groups gathered in the street were often watching video footage or consoling one another. Reports included frightened children and possible minor injuries such as twisted ankles, but no serious injuries were identified.

Witnesses said early claims circulated in the crowd before accounts and video were compared. Demeri said she did not believe anyone had been run over based on what she observed. “It never crossed my mind,” Demeri said. “And I 100% thought that everyone is going to go to jail because they’re beating up the driver,” Demeri said.

Traffic control remained limited after the arrest. Nearly an hour later, northbound traffic on Veteran Avenue remained open at Ohio Avenue, with one civilian waving cars away. Police dispersed the crowd and secured the scene about 90 minutes later.

The investigation remains ongoing. 

West Coast Chabad announced on Tuesday the acquisition of a 300,000-square-foot, 16-story campus in Los Angeles that it claims will become “the largest Jewish center in North America.”

The $100 million Chabad Campus for Jewish Life was donated by the Abady family, making it one of the largest contributions in Chabad’s history. The gift, from real estate professional Alon Abady and his wife, Monique, was made in honor of Alon’s mother, Liora Abady, and will house the “Abady Family Center” in her honor.

Located at 9911 West Pico Boulevard, the campus sits at the gateway to Century City and Beverly Hills. It is directly across from the Hillcrest Country Club and next door to the Fox Studios lot and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

The plan for the campus is to house a range of communal functions: a synagogue; educational facilities for students of varying ages; Jewish life-cycle venues; youth and senior programming; mental health and social services; support for Jewish students on college campuses; and a convention and banquet hall for communal gatherings and international events.

It plans to offer specialized programming for children with special needs, comprehensive services for California’s growing aging population, and a state-of-the-art museum that will use multimedia and virtual reality to engage the broader community with Jewish history, heritage, and the story of the Land of Israel.

In addition to its immediate use as a center for worship, service, education, and community engagement, the property benefits from newly granted by-right residential conversion entitlements, providing flexibility for future housing initiatives, including the potential conversion of the existing structure to residential use.

When the Abady family immigrated to the United States in the 1970s, they arrived with little means. Within two years, facing financial hardship and with no support network, they met Chabad and Rabbi Baruch Shlomo Cunin, the West Coast Director of Chabad-Lubavitch. Then a young emissary of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, sent to grow Chabad-Lubavitch across the West Coast, Rabbi Cunin and Chabad helped the Abady family navigate their hardship and helped provide them with the foundation to rebuild their lives.

Alon Abady went on to build a real estate empire, and Rabbi Cunin continued the Rebbe’s work of transforming Jewish life on the West Coast. But the Abadys never forgot.

When Chabad approached Abady about the campus he had recently acquired, the response was immediate. He shared that the family had never forgotten the kindness Rabbi Cunin and Chabad had shown them in their time of need, and that it was time to repay that kindness.

“This gift reflects our deep commitment to the Los Angeles community of all faiths and backgrounds, and our desire to leave a lasting impact that will endure for future generations,” said Alon Abady. “The Abady Family Center, owned and operated by the Chabad Campus for Jewish Life, is intended not only as a physical home for the Los Angeles community, but also as a platform for growth, adaptability, and long-term community benefit. This is a lifelong dream that also allows me to honor my parents and my children. When my family immigrated to Los Angeles in the 1970s, Chabad was there for us. That was never forgotten.”

The closing took place on the afternoon of Friday, Jan. 9. As Shabbat approached, leaders and friends of Chabad hurried to join Rabbi Cunin at the property to celebrate and affix a mezuzah to the front door of the campus.

The Jewish date of the closing coincided with 20 Tevet, the yahrtzeit of the Rambam, also known as Maimonides. In 1984, the Rebbe established a daily study cycle of the Rambam’s monumental work, Mishneh Torah, explaining that this would unify the Jewish people regardless of background. Rabbi Cunin felt it was a particularly auspicious date, as the new center will likewise be a point of unity for people from all walks of life.

The announcement comes during a period marked by rising antisemitism and harrowing events—most recently, the Bondi Chanukah Massacre in Australia, which claimed the lives of 15 people, including Chabad Rabbi Eli Schlanger and Rabbi Yaakov Levitan, chief operating officer at Chabad of Bondi.

Chabad views the launch of the center as a direct response to the darkness and a concrete way to channel the Rebbe’s teachings to double down on good works in the face of difficulties.

“This extraordinary gift reflects the Rebbe’s mission to illuminate the world through goodness and kindness,” says Rabbi Baruch Shlomo Cunin. “The Chabad Campus for Jewish Life will serve as a beacon of light, strengthening Jewish life while uplifting and serving the entire Los Angeles and global community for generations to come.”