What to Know
- An SUV crashed into a home in Union Township, injuring five children and their father
- Some of the children weren't wearing seat belts at the time, police said, and two of them were critically injured
- The cause of the crash is being investigated by police; the dad said he was cut off in traffic and hit the accelerator instead of the breaks
Six people were injured when the SUV they were in plowed into a home in Union Township on Friday morning, authorities say, and police tell NBC 4 that children injured in the crash weren’t wearing seat belts.
Five children were in the burgundy SUV driven by their father when it slammed into a home at the intersection of Cedar Avenue and Vauxhall Road shortly after 7 a.m. Friday, according to police and fire officials.
The father and five kids were taken to University Hospital, where two of them — a 7-year-old twin boy and his 12-year-old sister — were listed in critical condition, Union Fire Chief Michael Scanio said.
The three other children suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries. One of them, an 18-year-old, was released from the hospital, as was the father, police said.
Firefighters and emergency responders rushed onto the front lawn of the home to treat the SUV's passengers, some of whom lay injured and in shock, Chopper 4 video shows.
“There was a whole lot of screaming going on. There was some serious injuries,” Scanio said.
Local
Fanilla Caines was inside the home at the time with her son, but they were not injured. Caines told NBC 4 she was in the shower when she heard a loud boom.
“I ran to the room and grabbed my son, because he was in the bed sleeping. I was not sure what happened,” Caines said.
The sound of the crash brought people from Espin Preschool Learning Center running to help. Sergio Espinoza, an employee at the daycare center, was among those who rushed to the SUV.
“I ran straight to the car,” Espinoza said. “I took out the kids, took out the dad, took out everybody that was inside the car.”
Police said the father had been involved in another minor accident just a block away. They said he swerved and tried to hit the breaks but pressed the accelerator instead.
“He was just saying that something happened, that he had a car stopped in front of him, he went around, and that’s it,” Espinoza said.
An investigation into the crash is ongoing, and it wasn’t clear if the father would face charges for allegedly having his kids in the car without seat belts on.
