0
0
The patients weren’t real happy to be in the ER but never expected a car to come crashing into the lobby. At least five were injured more than when they came in. One adult and one child are listed in “critical” condition. The driver was “given CPR before dying at the scene.”
Car crash in ER
The driver of a car that crashed into an Austin, Texas, medical center emergency room found a creative way to jump to the head of the triage line. It didn’t do them much good. First responders were only steps away but caught totally by surprise.
Apparently the driver was having some sort of medical emergency and drove themself to the hospital. It seems they lost consciousness just before crashing through the wall.
The February 13 crash, Austin Police Department relates, “does not appear to be an intentional act.” The car wasn’t driven by a domestic terrorist and there’s “no threat to the general public.”
🚨#BREAKING: A vehicle has driven through an emergency room at a medical center, with multiple injuries reported ⁰⁰📌#Austin | #Texas ⁰⁰Currently, numerous law enforcement and other emergency personnel are on the scene in Austin, Texas, after a vehicle had driven through… pic.twitter.com/RyuaRbKYmh
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) February 14, 2024
There was a huge threat to the ER patients sitting at St. David’s North Austin Medical Center. They were already in misery and waiting for care when they suddenly needed even more care.
Stephen Hughes was waiting for his wife to come out of surgery when a loud bang caught his attention. It took his brain a second to comprehend that a car had crashed into the building.
“At first I thought it was an explosion,” he declares. “Then I heard screaming and saw the smoke coming from the ER entrance.”
A screeching sound
The hospital instantly looked like a war zone. “People ran through the emergency room lobby as the vehicle’s tires spun with a screeching sound.”
The area around the car was quickly and efficiently cleared of bystanders, while staff attended to the injured. It does not appear from preliminary reports that there were any passengers.
The driver of the car “was extricated and given CPR before dying at the scene,” Thayer Smith of the Austin Fire Department confirms.
Eyewitness video shows the moment a car drove into the emergency room of a hospital in Austin, Texas. One person was killed and five others injured, including two children pic.twitter.com/eZ3mKFpAKi
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 14, 2024
One victim was admitted at St. David’s while the other three “were taken to other hospitals.” Two are in critical condition including a child. Medical officials note that both sustained “life-threatening injuries.”
Along with the injured, another “eight hospital patients who were not hurt in the crash” got transported to nearby facilities. St. David’s had too much to cope with and a crime scene in the lobby.
Wheeling patients around the smoking remains of a car makes their insurance company go crazy. “Damage to the building was minor but the hospital only took emergency room walk-ins Tuesday night as ambulances were directed to other facilities.“
