DETROIT – Firefighters were attacked by a crowd early Monday morning while they were attempting to rescue two people trapped in a SUV that crashed into a building in Detroit.
At around 3 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 13, a GMC Terrain crashed into a building in the area of 7 Mile Road and Terrell Avenue, just east of Van Dyke Avenue. Police said the man driving the SUV was killed in the severe crash, which nearly obliterated the vehicle and created significant debris scattered around the building.
You can see footage from the scene in the video report down below.
It was learned later that there was another passenger in the SUV at the time of the crash. Their condition was unknown as of Tuesday. The identities of the driver and passenger were either unknown or hadn’t been released by police as of Tuesday.
When the crash was reported, firefighters and EMS crews were called to the scene to help rescue the driver and the passenger, who were reportedly trapped in the vehicle. But as firefighters arrived at the scene, the crowd that had gathered around the crash grew hostile, officials reported.
People in the crowd threw objects and rocks at firefighters and medics and their vehicles. One person reportedly grabbed a piece of equipment off a fire engine and shattered the truck’s windshield with it.
First responders told dispatch that medics couldn’t get close enough to the people trapped in the SUV to start life-saving measures due to the crowd.
Once first responders were able to get through the crowd and access the damaged vehicle, they found the driver of the SUV had died. Though firefighters and medics had a quick response time, officials said Monday that some people in the crowd blamed first responders for not getting there quickly enough to save the driver, and attacked them for it.
Detroit police were investigating the crash and the subsequent attack on first responders. In a statement, the Detroit Fire commissioner on Monday asked Detroit residents to “cooperate with our first responders and to not distract them when they are delivering medical care to their fellow citizens.”
Watch Shawn Ley’s report below and see footage from the scene.