A car crashed into a Fort Myers, Fla., church filled with 200 people attending the Easter Sunday service, injuring at least 18, police said.
Worshipers at the Second Haitian Baptist Church used car jacks on Sunday night to lift the vehicle and pull several people trapped underneath before police arrived, a statement from the Fort Myers police said.
The driver told authorities that at 7:55 p.m. EST, the brakes on her Lexus sedan stopped working as she was driving through a parking lot adjacent to the church, sending the car careening into the building.
“At this point the investigation is being treated as a very unfortunate accident rather than a criminal act,” Lt. Victor Medico, a spokesman for the Fort Myers Police, said in a statement.
Medico said no information on the condition of the victims was immediately available. A spokeswoman for Lee Memorial Hospital, where some of the injured were being treated, could not be reached for comment.
The driver was questioned by police and allowed to leave, although “civil traffic violations may be forthcoming,” Medico said in an e-mail.
Reporting by Zachary Fagenson; editing by Kevin Gray and G Crosse
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