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.