14 Hurt In Hannukah Party Crash
Posted December 25, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A car slammed into a building in Woodmere, N.Y., near Long Island, where Orthodox Jewish families were celebrating Hanukkah on Thursday, injuring 14 people, police said.
At least six of the injured were young children and two of them were seriously injured, hospital officials said.
The families from the Chabad Orthodox Jewish movement were celebrating Chanukah Wonderland, an all-day celebration with events geared for children, including a fun house and a Chanukah theatre. Thursday was the fifth day of the eight-day Jewish festival of lights.
About 150 people were inside the building when a 76-year-old man lost control of his car and plowed through a plateglass window, Nassau County police said.
“He makes an abrupt left turn. It actually forces the car that’s parked along the side of the road up onto the sidewalk,” Nassau County police Lt. Kevin Smith said.
“His car careens through several plateglass windows, enters the building and comes to rest after basically running over…several people.”
A person who answered the phone at the Chabad offices on Long Island said no one was available to comment.
Woodmere is about 40 kilometres southeast of Manhattan.
