A Jeep crashed through the front of an elementary school on Long Island on Sunday evening, tearing a large hole in the brick wall and leaving the building boarded up, after the driver suffered a medical episode behind the wheel. The crash struck Northside Elementary School in East Williston, in Nassau County, sending emergency crews to the scene and prompting a damage assessment that stretched into Monday morning.
According to Nassau County Police, the crash happened around 6:15 in the evening at the school, which is located at 110 East Wilson Avenue. Investigators say a 77-year-old man was driving the Jeep when he suffered a medical episode that caused the vehicle to leave the roadway, veer off course and plow directly into the front of the building rather than continuing along the street.
The vehicle punched through the brick wall and into the school's library and media center, one of the areas families and staff would normally rely on during the school year. Viewer video from the scene showed the aftermath of the impact, with books scattered all over the floor and a gaping hole opened up along the side of the building where the Jeep had come to rest.
The driver was taken to the hospital for treatment following the crash, police said. Emergency services responded to the scene, and the vehicle itself had to be removed from inside the building before crews could board up the damaged section, a process that left the front of the school covered and wrapped in police tape into the following morning.
Despite the size of the damage, the Fire Department determined that the building itself remains structurally safe, according to officials at the scene. That finding offered some reassurance even as the full extent of the destruction inside, from the ruined wall to the contents of the library, remained under review by the school district and local authorities on Monday.
School officials said they are still working to assess how much damage was suffered inside in terms of property, including books, computers and other items in the library and media center. In a statement, the district said it is assessing any impact to school property, while declining for now to share publicly the full extent of the interior damage.
School officials and security personnel remained on site through Monday morning, keeping watch over the damaged building as repair work loomed. With the summer break under way, the crash spared the classrooms of students, but it left the district facing a significant cleanup and a long list of questions about the condition of the library and media center struck by the Jeep.