1 dead, 5 injured after vehicle crashes into medical center in Austin, Texas

One person died and at least five others were injured after a vehicle crashed into a medical center in Austin, Texas, officials said Tuesday.

The vehicle crashed into the emergency room at St. David’s North Austin Medical Center, Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services posted on social media.

Austin’s EMS Chief Robert Luckritz said at a Tuesday evening briefing that officials received a call about the crash at 5:38 p.m. local time. 

Emergency responders discovered five people at the immediate scene. They pronounced one person dead after removing the person from the vehicle and administering CPR. Dr. Peter DeYoung, Chief Medical Officer at the hospital, confirmed at the briefing that this person was the driver of the vehicle.

Two children and two adults were taken to area hospitals. One child and one adult were in critical condition, Luckritz said. 

The four injured people were in the ER lobby when the vehicle crash occurred, DeYoung said. A fifth injured person was treated on-site. Eight people who were being cared for at the facility at the time of the crash were later taken to area hospitals so the staff at St. David’s could “decompress.” 

Officials said no details were available about the cause of the crash but that detectives were investigating it.

The Austin Police Department earlier said in a post to social media that “there is no threat to the general public. Based on preliminary information and details gathered at this time, this incident does not appear to be an intentional act.”

“We are so thankful that the building itself appears to be in good condition and there’s been no impact to operations outside of the emergency department at all,” DeYoung said, adding that he’d left the facility 15 minutes before the crash and then turned around and headed back.

DeYoung said that while the ER will continue to handle walk-ins, it will be closed to ambulances overnight.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he’d offered the state’s full support to Austin’s Mayor Kirk Watson. “State personnel are working closely with local officials to ensure Austin has no unmet needs,” Abbott said on social media.