Exclusive: Student driver hits four people

Reported by: Kathryn Herr
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Updated: 2/14 8:19 am

Four people are taken to the hospital after a driving lesson takes a treacherous turn.

It’s a story you will only see on CBS47.

A car hit a group of people at an apartment complex in northwest Fresno.

It happened on north Parkway Drive and Brawley Avenue.

One of the victims was surrounded by fire fighters in the middle of wreckage left behind by a woman who was learning to drive.

“It was a student driver and she had slipped and stepped on the wrong pedal and collided with the park bench with people sitting on it,” said Captain Randy Reitz with the Fresno Fire Department.

One man was pinned under the car and against the building.

“We were able to push the vehicle by hand off the patient and take care of his injuries,” Capt. Reitz said.

Three of the people who were hit had broken legs. A fourth had an injured leg - but not as serious.

Thelma Avila is the apartment manager and was in the office when the accident happened.

“All I saw was the car come in, that's all, and I was on my way towards the door,” Avila said.

She was just inches away from where the car stopped. As you can see, the door frame to the office was destroyed. The railing that leads to it bent. It’s a path of damage that runs for more than 30 feet. 

The car came off Parkway Drive. It went through this patio, knocked over a huge fountain, and went through a wrought iron fence before it hit the victims.

The manager says people often gather at night by the fountain that's now destroyed.

If more people had been out it could have been much worse.

The student driver will not face any criminal charges.

The people who were hit are expected to recover.

The damaged building is boarded up.

The owner of the car does have insurance. 

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