Sunday, March 8, 2015

CAR STRIKES TREE AND FENCE AND THEN CRASHES THROUGH WALL OF LONG ISLAND SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH IN BALDWIN. VERY HIGH SPEED IS ONE OF THE CAUSES OF THE ACCIDENT.








MARCH 8, 2015 

BALDWIN, N.Y. (CBSNEWYORK/AP)

A car smashed through the wall of a Long Island church hours before Sunday services.

The crash happened around 4:30 a.m. Sunday at the Second Baptist Church on Grand Avenue in Baldwin, police said. The driver fled the scene, cops said.

Photos show the car tilted on its side at a roughly 45-degree angle and resting with its front wedged in the church’s wall. The car, a 2008 Infiniti G35, has since been removed, leaving a jagged hole in the wall.

“It didn’t go into the sanctuary at least, thank God,” a member of the congregation told WCBS 880’s Ginny Kosola.

It appears the car also took down a tree and a large portion of a metal fence.
The car was traveling at a high rate of speed and went airborne before the crash, police said.

The church’s phone wasn’t working later Sunday morning. Its website says Sunday services are held at 8 a.m. and 11 a.m.

Police sources say three people were in the car and fled the scene, but one of them has been taken into custody and charges are pending.

No one was inside the church at the time.

Police said the investigation is ongoing.

The one-story church is about 20 years old. An additional church is being built across the street.