Six people were injured Sunday when an empty car drifted from its parking spot and plowed into vendors and employees at a community festival in Pittsburgh.
The vehicle cut loose just before 6:30 p.m. at the annual East Liberty Black Arts Soul-Steppin, Boots-on-the-Ground Wellness Festival, Harambee Style and Parade after the owner got out to unload, witnesses told WPXI-TV.
The “slow-moving and unoccupied” vehicle “drifted into the crowd,” witnesses told police, but said there was little time to react.
Event photographer Ricco J.L. Martello had just lifted his camera to take a photo, he told WTAE-TV, when he saw the car bearing down, dropped his camera and attempted to warn his photo subjects. But “it was already too late,” he said. “They were already getting hit.”
Five women and a man were hospitalized, three of them in serious but stable condition and two in stable condition, Pittsburgh police said in a statement. One person was evaluated at the scene and refused medical transport.
Festival founder Anita Drummond said some of the injured were her relatives.
Witnesses said the owner tried valiantly to capture the rogue vehicle.
“I see him running, you know, from the sidewalk to try to stop the car,” Martello said. “I mean, he felt really bad.”
Both witnesses and police concurred it was a “freak accident,” as Eddie Drummond, Anita Drummond’s son, told WTAE. “Probably the gears didn’t shift or something.”
The car owner “stayed at the scene, was highly cooperative, and stated to police that he believed he placed his vehicle into park before exiting,” police said. “At this time, the incident is believed to be purely accidental in nature.”
Originally Published:
