FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) – Last night a car crashed into Siloam Springs Intermediate School for the second time in less than two months.
Assistant Superintendent of Siloam Springs schools Shane Patrick says the car lost control and hit the building at around 7:00 p.m., Sunday night.
“It’s not something you would expect. This building has been here for almost 20 years and we have never had this issue,” says Patrick.
While it isn’t something that you would expect, it is the second car to hit the school gym within five weeks.
“The main thing is we want to provide a safe environment for our kids, and we want to make sure this facility is safe for our staff and students before we put the student back into this end of the building,” says Patrick.
Patrick says the car, which hit the school did so at a high rate of speed, and the tracks the car made show no attempt at stopping.
“My understanding is there were 3 people in the car, they were all injured badly, one of the injured was removed and taken from here by helicopter,” says Patrick.
The city of Siloam Springs says it is too soon to comment on what the plan is going forward.
However, Patrick says the school district and the town will be working together to prevent this from happening a third time.
“We are going to get together with the city engineer and our school architects to look at some different options to see what we might have in order to keep this from happening again. But, anything you put up if a driver hits it is still going to cause damage,” says Patrick.
The incident occurred on a Sunday night while students were safe at home. Patrick explains both cars flew off the road at the same spot students line up to cross the street at the end of the day.
