Vehicle crashes during auto auction, striking several people

Published:
Photo via Twitter / CBS Boston

BILLERICA, Mass. (AP) A vehicle suddenly accelerated at an auto auction and struck several people crowded around the auction block before it crashed through a wall of the building Wednesday, a witness said.

The crash occurred at around 10:15 a.m. at LynnWay Auto Auction in Billerica, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Boston. The number of casualties wasn’t immediately clear.

Woody Tuttle, an auto auction employee who saw the crash, told WCVB-TV that the building has eight lanes in which vehicles on the auction block line up. People were standing between the lanes when one vehicle suddenly took off, Tuttle said.

“I heard a screeching of tires, and, I believe, a Jeep Cherokee went flying by me,” he told the station. “In avoiding the cars, whoever was driving this vehicle hit several people.”

The vehicle then went through the wall of the building, Tuttle said.

“(The driver) avoided the cars, and went on to hit the people who were standing between the cars,” Tuttle told WCVB-TV.

Images from TV helicopters show a vehicle covered in debris. Medics wheeled people out of the building on gurneys.

A state police spokesman says the agency was assisting in the investigation. No one with the Billerica police was immediately available for comment.

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