Police say cash may be missing after stolen car, SEPTA bus crash
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Police say someone driving a stolen car crashed into a SEPTA bus and another vehicle Thursday morning, sending the bus through the front of a bank. Meanwhile, cash may be missing from one of the vehicles.
This all happened around 1:30 a.m. at the intersection of Rising Sun Avenue and Martins Mill Road in the Lawndale section of Northeast Philadelphia.
When police arrived on the scene, they saw three vehicles with a significant amount of damage including the SEPTA bus.
Police believe it all started with a Hyundai, which was reported stolen and involved in several robberies last week in Northeast Philadelphia.
Police say the driver of the Hyundai crashed into a minivan, which crashed into the SEPTA bus, sending the bus crashing into the front of a PNC Bank branch.
Police say the minivan driver was caught in the middle of this crash and happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"The 31-year-old driver is a business man, and he had a large amount of cash in that vehicle, and we believe that someone got into that vehicle," Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said at the scene. "Our real-time crime cameras, police cameras, caught someone get in to that vehicle and take something, and flee the scene. We believe, a large amount of cash."
The driver of the Hyundai then took off in a Volkswagen while the passenger remained on the scene. The passenger, a man in his late teens or early 20s, was then taken Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, where he's in critical condition with severe head trauma.
"Right now, we're still looking for the driver of that stolen vehicle, who we believe got into the Volkswagen that left the scene," Small said. "We're also looking for that male who may have taken some money from the minivan."
The driver of the SEPTA bus is in his 60s. He had facial and head injuries but is expected to be OK.
Three passengers on the bus left the scene before police arrived.
Inspectors from the city Department of Licenses and Inspections looked at the bank building and do not believe there is any danger of collapse.