Car crashes into building, sending five people to the trauma center

A single car-single building crash sent five people to Ryder Trauma Center Saturday morning on Little Havana’s northern edge, according to Miami Fire Rescue.

Two of the five were in serious condition, Miami Fire Rescue Capt. Ignatius Carroll said.

The building at Northwest Seventh Street and Northwest 21st Court, former home of Nostrum Medical Center, houses Florida Dental Care and Vidamax Medical Center. The Nissan SUV held six people, some of which “had to be extricated using tools,” Carroll said.

The one person in the SUV not taken to trauma — the driver — refused any treatment by Miami Fire Rescue, and was detained by Miami police. A witness at the Marathon station next door said the driver wept heavily as police took him into custody.

Carroll said around 6 a.m. the SUV swerved off Northwest Seventh Street, through the parking lot fence and into the stairway leading to a doorway on the building’s southeast corner. A daycare center sits across the street and, a block beyond that, Citrus Grove Middle School’s campus.

“This could’ve been a lot worse had pedestrians been present or had the had the medical center been in operation,” Carroll said.

This story was originally published June 10, 2017 at 9:23 AM with the headline "Car crashes into building, sending five people to the trauma center."