Church group thank God no one hit by hurtling car
A small Samoan congregation is thanking God no one was hit by a car that ploughed through their car park and crashed into the church building.
A 57-year-old man died in yesterday’s crash, which was just before 2.30pm on the corner of Ormiston Rd and Preston Rd. The intersection in Otara is a notorious crash site.
Police had spotted the man driving erratically and had begun a chase when he failed to stop for them, Inspector Shawn Rutene said.
“A short time later, the vehicle crashed into a building,” Rutene said.
The driver may have suffered a medical condition, but officers were still investigating, he said.
Six elderly men and women were inside the Joyful Christian Ministry church playing dominoes when the car hurtled toward the glass doors of the room where they were sitting.
But the pastor’s van, parked outside, appeared to have deflected the car, which continued up a ramp and launched several metres into the air, slammed into the second storey of the church’s aluminium building and fell three metres on to the concrete.
At some point the car had spun 180 degrees. Part of the red tail light is still embedded high in the dented wall.
Neighbour Ama Polevia, 24, heard sirens followed by a “massive bang”. She ran out and saw the crumpled car, with a police car next to it. There was blood on the ground and the driver wasn’t moving, she said.
After trying to rouse him, an officer broke the back passenger window and they pulled him out, she said. Fire and ambulance then arrived.
“The cops did CPR on him but they couldn’t bring him back.”
Missy Tusini, 28, heard a bang and looked out the window to see the grey car squashed between a skip and a forklift, facing out toward the road. “It was freaky.” Pastor Vai Tuialii, 46, said he thanked God none of his congregation had been hurt. “It’s so lucky. If my car weren’t here it might have gone straight into the front room.”
He said it was also “a blessing” that the car park was empty — it was normally filled with church kids playing and riding bikes.
“There were kids here in the morning, aged maybe 6 to 9 years old.”