People visiting Christmas in the Park in San Jose Sunday afternoon experienced a frightening scene when a driver fleeing from police drove through the middle of the downtown holiday display.
Police said it started when officers tried to pull over the driver for a vehicle code violation. The driver pulled into a hotel drop-off area, made a U-turn, hit a parked vehicle and took off. The driver then drove the wrong way on Market Street before driving through Christmas in the Park.
Event operations manager Zach Tatar warned people to run.
"I just started to yell, 'Get out of the way!" he said. "Thankfully there wasn't that many people there. If we're talking a half-hour to an hour later, we could be having a lot different of a conversation."
No one was hurt, and no displays were damaged.
Police said officers did not pursue the driver because of the potential risk to public safety.
Christmas in the Park leaders said they have never seen anything like this happen in the past 40 years. They will be looking at ways to make the event even safer next year.
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