2 dead, 6 injured after crash in South Dakota, officials say
ALCESTER, S.D. -- At least two people were killed and six hurt when a car slammed into a group of people and then into a nursing home Monday in southeast South Dakota in an apparent accident, authorities said.
Highway Patrol spokesman Tony Mangan said investigators believe the crash at Alcester Care and Rehab Center was accidental based on descriptions from witnesses, but he had no immediate detail.
Authorities said an 81-year-old woman apparently stepped on the gas instead of the brakes causing her 2001 Pontiac to hit a group of people standing outside of the rehab center. The state Highway Patrol says the group was a mix of center employees and residents.
The incident occurred around 9:30 a.m. Monday, according to CBS affiliate KELO-TV.
Several helicopters and at least four ambulances responded to the scene, the Argus Leader newspaper of Sioux Falls reports.
Mangan had no immediate information about the conditions of the injured, whom he said were taken to hospitals in Sioux Falls and Hawarden, Iowa, and Sioux City, Iowa. Alcester, a town of about 800 people, is about 40 miles south of Sioux Falls.
Jayson Pullman, chief executive of Hawarden Regional Healthcare, said four of the injured were treated at his hospital. He said he believed three had been returned to the nursing home, with the fourth transferred by helicopter to another hospital.
The other hospitals said they couldn't provide any information without patient names. None of the victims of the crash were immediately identified.
The nursing home's administrator declined an interview.
"It's horrible," Highway Patrol Capt. Jason Husby said. "Especially the situation we had here where there's a group of people. A lot of people are affected by this."
Hours after the crash, a blue tarp was draped across the entrance to the nursing home, and a maintenance worker was doing work on a shattered side window and a cracked and damaged door.
Alcester police Chief Chris Doty said the driver is female, but didn't offer other details.
Mangan said he couldn't provide details about what preceded the crash. He said the car's speed, whether the driver had any relation to the facility or whether alcohol was a factor in the crash were all under investigation.