Sunday, June 12, 2016

Seven people were hurt, two of them critically, in a car crash Saturday evening in downtown Pittsburgh


Crash during busy downtown evening injures seven, two critically
Pittsburgh police say all injuries are non-life-threatening
UPDATED 11:45 PM EDT Jun 11, 2016



PITTSBURGH —Seven people were hurt, two of them critically, in a car crash Saturday evening in downtown Pittsburgh.


Six of those hurt, including the two women listed as critical, were pedestrians on Liberty Avenue. None of those hurt suffered life-threatening injuries, Public Safety spokeswoman Sonya Toler said.

Pittsburgh police say a driver lost control of her car as she was making a right-hand turn onto Liberty Avenue around 6:30 p.m.

In all, three cars were involved in the crash, which also took out a Port Authority bus overhang and the storefront of the Pittsburgh Popcorn Co.

Police Chief Cam McLay says it's fortunate that more people weren't hurt, given the Three Rivers Arts Festival and concerts associated with Pittsburgh Pride that were happening.

"We're extremely fortunate that the cars came this direction instead of towards the event area where there were hundreds of people lined up to get in," McLay said.



Because it was a busy night downtown, Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich, who was also a witness to the crash, said the response was quick.

"We had four paramedics on scene within a minute," Hissrich said.