Surveillance footage captured a large tree falling over a public bus and two other vehicles on a busy stretch of road in Sawtelle on Friday.
Katie McFarland was sitting in her car near Sawtelle Boulevard and La Grange Avenue when she suddenly heard what she described as the loudest noise of her life.
“It was so, so scary. It was the biggest crash I had ever heard of,” McFarland said.
Sometime before 11 p.m., a ficus about 30 feet high crashed in the area amid heavy rain. McFarland said her boyfriend went to get them food when the tree fell.
Video captured the moment a tree fell on a bus in Sawtelle. Video broadcast Saturday, November 15, 2025 on Today in LA Weekend.
“I just see everything going dark,” she said. “I can’t go forward, I can’t go back and I see a little bit of light next to my driver’s side and he’s trying to rip it open to let me out.”
Fortunately, McFarland was unharmed during the incident. The tree not only fell on top of McFarland’s car, but also landed on a Big Blue Bus and another car. The bus driver was the only occupant of the public transport vehicle at the time of the accident and he was also uninjured. It is unclear whether anyone was in the third car.
Shortly after the incident, crews began clearing debris from the area. McFarland and her boyfriend stayed behind to check on her car.
“It looks much better than I expected,” she says.
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