A car crashed into a Texas hospital's emergency room Tuesday, killing the driver and injuring five other people, including a child with life-threatening injuries, authorities said.
The car smashed into the lobby of the ER at St. David's North Austin Medical Center shortly after 5:30 pm, fire officials said at a nighttime news briefing. The driver was pulled from the car and received cardiopulmonary resuscitation but died in the ER, authorities said.
The crash was under investigation and there was no immediate word on the cause but the Austin Police Department said it appeared to be unintentional.
Five other people in the ER lobby were injured. One was treated at the hospital while two adults and two children were taken to other hospitals, authorities said.
Of those transported, one child had critical life-threatening injuries and an adult had “serious, potentially life-threatening injuries” while the other two victims had non-life threatening injuries, said Capt. Christa Stedman of Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services.
Eight patients who already were undergoing treatment at the hospital were being moved to other facilities, said Dr. Peter DeYoung, chief medical officer for the hospital.
DeYoung said the ER doors were damaged and an aquarium inside was struck, but overall the building was in good condition. No ambulances were being accepted although the ER was still taking walk-ins who would be treated at a makeshift triage area at the ambulance bay, he added.
“We're hoping to kind of regroup here over the night and see where tomorrow leaves us,” DeYoung said.
St. David's North Austin Medical Center has a 24-hour emergency department. It is described on its website as a 441-bed acute care facility that handles maternity and newborn care, other women's health services and many other specialties, including heart and brain surgeries and robotic surgery.
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