Darryl McDaniels' SUV Collides With a Garbage Truck in Los Angeles

Darryl McDaniels, the "DMC" in Run-DMC, was a passenger in an SUV that collided with a garbage truck on a Los Angeles freeway on Friday. TMZ was first with the story, citing sources who said McDaniels was not driving and that he and everyone else in the vehicle were completely fine. The California Highway Patrol, as reported by NBC Los Angeles, said he complained of minor pain.

The news arrived as a jolt for fans who have followed McDaniels for more than four decades. For a man whose career has been defined by resilience, the early word from the scene was a welcome one: he was on his feet, talking with first responders, and smiling for a camera.

What Happened on the 105 Freeway

According to the California Highway Patrol, as reported by NBC Los Angeles, the call came in at 11:43 a.m. on Friday, October 30, for a two vehicle crash involving an SUV and a garbage truck on the eastbound 105 Freeway near the 110 interchange in South Los Angeles. TMZ placed the scene in the West Athens area, while ABC7 described it as near Hoover Street in the Harbor Gateway area, not far from LAX.

Footage from the Citizen app, described by TMZ, showed a black SUV facing the wrong way on the freeway with shattered glass inside and its right side badly damaged. Two garbage truck workers could be seen surveying the scene. McDaniels appeared in the video speaking with Los Angeles Fire Department personnel and smiling at the person filming. The SUV was later towed, and the CHP said the scene had been cleared.

What Is Known and What Is Not

The accounts differ slightly on one point. TMZ's sources said McDaniels and the others in the SUV were completely fine. NBC Los Angeles reported that CHP officers found McDaniels complaining of minor pain, and that a representative for the rapper said the other passengers were OK. Either way, every report so far points to a frightening moment rather than a serious injury.

Several questions remain open. ABC7 reported that it is unclear what led to the crash, and no cause has been released. It is also not clear exactly how many people were involved or who was driving the SUV. McDaniels himself had not made a public statement in the initial reports. Goals Magazine will update this story if officials or his team share more.

The Career Behind the Headline

McDaniels was born on May 31, 1964, and raised in Hollis, Queens. In 1983 he formed Run-DMC with Joseph "Run" Simmons and Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell, and the trio went on to rewrite the rules for rap music. Their 1984 debut became the first hip hop album certified gold. King of Rock in 1985 was the first to go platinum, and Raising Hell in 1986 became the first hip hop album to go multi platinum.

Raising Hell also carried "Walk This Way," the group's collaboration with Aerosmith, which climbed to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and helped carry hip hop into the mainstream. Run-DMC was the first hip hop act to have videos on MTV, the first to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone and the first to perform at Live Aid. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009, received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016, and saw Raising Hell added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2018.

A Life Built on Getting Back Up

McDaniels has been open about the hard chapters of his life. He has spoken about a long struggle with depression that began in the late 1990s and has credited Sarah McLachlan's song "Angel" with helping him through it. He was also diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, a voice condition that changed how he could perform.

As an adult he learned that he had been adopted, a discovery he explored in the 2006 VH1 documentary "DMC: My Adoption Journey." He later became an advocate for adoptees, testifying in New Jersey in support of giving adult adoptees access to their original birth certificates, a change that took effect in the state on January 1, 2017. He told his story in the 2001 autobiography "King of Rock: Respect, Responsibility, and My Life with Run-DMC" and released the solo album "Checks Thugs and Rock N Roll" in 2006.

The Takeaway

For readers who come to Goals Magazine for lessons in persistence, Darryl McDaniels has long been a case study: a kid from Queens who helped build a global genre, then faced depression, a voice disorder and a search for his own family, and kept going. Friday's crash on the 105 was a frightening moment: TMZ said he was fine, and the CHP, via NBC Los Angeles, said he complained of minor pain. The cause is still unknown, and more details may follow, but the first images of DMC smiling at the scene said plenty about the man.