Sailfest Injuries- 27 hurt in CT.

[Merrydeath]

Found this while surfing, but I talked to Francios and Scupper, and all of the Freemen are safe. They are supposed to go tomorrow July 9, to the fest.

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NEW LONDON, Conn. - An 89-year-old man driving through a crowd at a summer festival panicked after striking one pedestrian and lurched his station wagon through the throng, injuring 27 people, city officials said.

Two people had serious injuries, Mayor Elizabeth Sabilia said. The rest were non-life-threatening injuries.

The driver, Robert Laine, of Wallingford, and a female passenger were not injured.

Ned Lamont, the Democratic challenger for U.S. Senate was in the crowd. Lamont was not injured, but several of his campaign workers were hurt. Their injuries included a broken leg, a fractured nose and scrapes and bruises.

The accident happened about 3:30 p.m. near the Amtrak station during the city’s Sailfest summer festival, where a crowd had gathered on both sides of warning gates as a train passed. Once the train departed and the gates lifted, the pedestrians and the Chevrolet Caprice wagon both began to cross.

Sabilia said Laine was driving across the tracks to get to the Fishers Island ferry when his car struck a pedestrian.

“He panicked,” she said.

‘No warning and no screaming’

The car then lurched through the crowd, which witnesses said was about four- or five-people deep.

“People were facing the tracks and didn’t see the car coming,” witness Bill Hoezel told The Day of New London. “The car was moving probably 10 to 15 miles per hour, much quicker than someone trying to edge through a crowd. There was no warning and no screaming, just thump-thump-thump as the bodies were hit.”

The victims were taken to Lawrence & Memorial Hospital. Most sustained cuts and bruises and were treated and released, a hospital spokesman said. The identities of the two seriously injured were not released.

Driver said gas pedal stuck

Terrie Castagna, 43, a former paramedic, helped with first aid until emergency crews arrived. She said Laine told her the gas pedal in his car was stuck.

“He was shaken. He was in shock,” she said.

Police said it was premature to point to a cause and were still interviewing witnesses and many of those struck. Investigators will also look at any video that may have been captured by surveillance cameras used by Amtrak and the Fishers Island ferry.

“It was a very chaotic scene,” police Capt. Kenneth Edwards said. “There were luckily a large number of emergency personnel in the area.”

The waterfront city’s Sailfest festival attracts thousands of visitors.