Safety & Security News

Car Crashes into House in Saint Paul, Minnesota
.. SAINT PAUL, MN -- It was a jarring start to the day for one St. Paul family as a car crashed into their kitchen just before 5:00 Sunday morning.

The situation started as a carjacking, and within blocks the stolen car crashed into another SUV before careening into the house on Jessamine Avenue.
[more]

NTSB Report Released on Santa Monica Farmer's Market Tragedy
.. LOS ANGELES, CA - The National Transportation Safety Board has issued their final REPORT concerning the tragedy at the City of Santa Monica Farmer's Market on July 16, 2003. An 86-year-old driver accidentally drove his 1992 Buick Le Sabre through the crowded 3rd street festival at speeds up to 60 miles an hour plowing into victims until the vehicle was halted by the body of a victim trapped beneaththe car. 10 people were killed and 63 injured in the accident.

Excerpt from Final Report - "Segregating pedestrian from vehicular traffic is a key element in pedestrian safety. Positive barriers between pedestrians and vehicles ...are the best method of ensuring this segregation. [The] bollards,while designed to be permanently placed in the roadway, can also be lowered to allow passage oftraffic, if necessary. By providing a rigid, positive separation between vehicles and pedestrians, bollards reduce the likelihood of vehicular incursion into pedestrian traffic areas.

Therefore, the Safety Board concludes that had Santa Monica installed a temporary rigid barrier system, such as bollards, ...the barrier system might have arrested or reduced the forward motion of the accident vehicle, thereby preventing it from continuing into the farmers’ market and eliminating or greatly reducing the number of casualties."

SUV Crashes Into Office Building in San Jose, California

Units from the San Jose Fire Department and the Santa Clara County Fire Department responded to a call of a vehicle into a structure at 2542 South Bascom Avenue in San Jose ...

The SUV then proceeded to plow through a set of interior doors and into a just vacated conference room where it shattered a conference table, chairs, plants and exterior windows. Miraculously no one was injured in the business and the driver of the vehicle was able to walk away unharmed. ... [more]

West Virginia Vehicle Lands on Bar Sparking Blaze

On Saturday April 17, 2004 at 0521am, the Jefferson Volunteer Fire Department responded to vehicle crash at the Fish Bowl Bar and Grill with fire reported. First engine on scene reported heavy fire and vehicle was on top of the building. ... [more]

A driver in Jefferson, W.Va. who fell asleep at the wheel of his pickup truck, woke up to a nightmare. Authorities say after he dozed off, his truck hit an embankment and went airborne over another parked pickup truck before landing on the roof of a bar ... [more]

Vehicle Crashes into Restaurant in Greeley, Colorado

... Union Colony Fire Rescue Firefighters in Greeley, Colorado were called to a vehicle that had crashed into the "Egg & I" restaurant in Greeley. Upon their arrival they found a vehicle had crashed through the front window. The driver, a 78 year old woman, and some
customers who had been sitting in a nearby booth were examined for injuries. One diner who was seated at a booth saw the car coming and leaped out of the way, avoiding serious injury ... [more]

Philadelphia Fire Truck Crashes Into Car, Building

A motorist was crushed and killed and three city firefighters were injured when a car and a ladder truck responding to an alarm crashed in West Philadelphia yesterday afternoon. The fire truck, racing to a call of a gas leak at 60th and Chancellor Streets, careered into the front of a grocery store after the crash, injuring three customers. The crushed car - a gray, late-model Ford Taurus - ended up partly underneath the fire truck, and hit and damaged the front of a rowhouse next to the grocery. [more plus video from scene]

Two Car Crash, Vehicle Ends Up Inside Busy Downtown Chattanooga Restaurant

... 9-1-1 callers reported a vehicle had crash through the front of a busy sports bar. When rescue units arrived on the scene, they immediately called for additional medic units due to the high occupancy inside the establishment.

... Witnesses say the crash occurred when a green Ford Mustang ran a stop sign at the intersection causing the pickup truck to collide with it. The pickup truck bounced off the Mustang and headed right for the front of the sports bar. ... [more]

SUV Plows Through Crowd at UNC; Six Hurt

... CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) -- Authorities planned to charge a former University of North Carolina student with attempted murder after he allegedly drove a sport utility vehicle through a popular gathering spot on campus Friday, clipping and scattering startled bystanders. No one was seriously hurt.

Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, 22, who graduated in December after studying psychology and philosophy, was in the custody of campus police. They intended to charge him with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, said police Capt. George Hare.

The FBI joined the case because Taheri-azar, a native of Iran, ''allegedly made statements that he acted to avenge the American treatment of Muslims,'' said agent Richard Kolko, an FBI spokesman in Washington. ''The ongoing investigation will work to confirm this.'' ...[more]

Woman Drives Station Wagon Into Bookstore

... ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A woman drove a station wagon through a wall of the Barnes & Noble bookstore, sending glass, wood and books flying. Three people suffered leg injuries. Two were taken to a hospital.

The store was filled with shoppers at about 2 p.m. Sunday when the Subaru station wagon plowed backward through picture windows in a reading area in the store's northwest corner. The car took out the travel section and barreled about 40 feet through the bookstore before coming to rest in nonfiction. ... [more]