NEW YORK TIMES
Horrifying video caught the moment a tourist plowed an SUV into a cafe in the Canary Islands, injuring eight people, including a 5-year-old girl and a baby in a stroller.
The footage shows a white Dacia Duster careening off the road and into the crowded café in a tourist hotspot in Fuerteventura at around 11:27 a.m. Thursday, overturning tables and sending victims flying before crashing into a storefront.
One man in a red T-shirt and blue jeans is seen scrambling to rescue the infant in its stroller — before the car drives straight into him, knocking him onto the hood.
A woman in a pink dress is also seen smashing feet-first into a neighboring building from the impact, hitting her head on the ground while surrounded by debris.
Other victims — including a 49-year-old woman and four men between ages 40 and 50 — appear completely unaware of the danger before the car hits them.
Five of the victims were seriously injured, local officials told the Canary News, with the 4-month-old baby airlifted to a hospital on the neighboring island of Gran Canaria. All were still alive as of Friday morning.
The 55-year-old driver, a British tourist, was also brought to a local hospital, the outlet said, without identifying him or detailing his condition.
“He has not been arrested,” a local police chief told the Daily Mail.
The driver tested negative for alcohol and drugs, said police — who are considering the possibility he may have suffered a heart attack or a blackout behind the wheel.
“The investigation into the incident is ongoing, but there is nothing at this stage pointing to any intention on the part of the driver to hurt anyone, and therefore nothing at this stage pointing to any criminal responsibility on his part for what happened,” a local police chief said.
Sources told local media outlets the vehicle was traveling at around 50 to 60 mph before it crashed into the café.
Pictures from the scene show the white SUV heavily damaged from the impact, with its windshield smashed and hood dented.
In the immediate aftermath of the crash, bystanders could also be seen tending to those injured on the side of the road before first responders arrived.
