Three people were rushed to an area hospital in serious condition after two vehicles collided and one ended up on its roof on Plank Road Monday evening.
Lakemont Volunteer Fire Department Chief Tom Sral said he believed all three people suffered serious injuries. The injured were taken by ambulance to Altoona Regional Health Center. Sral said one of the victims was trapped inside and one was either ejected or had pulled themselves from the flipped vehicle.
The fender of a Jeep Cherokee was smashed into the front end of the flipped sport utility vehicle resting atop a triangular curb barrier separating the entrance and exit of the Logan Valley Mall near an Applebee's Restaurant sign.
A double-sided sign reading yield on one side and do not enter on the other poked out from underneath the flipped vehicle with a Juniata College license plate. A single CD glinted silver among the broken pieces of vehicles scattered along the roadway.
Sral said Logan Township Police will recreate the crash because of its seriousness. Emergency crews were on scene until about 9:45 p.m. The crash occurred about 5:30 p.m.
Sral said the flipped vehicle was leaking gas into the passenger side and the fluid was running onto the roadway.
Patches of people scattered throughout the mall parking lot watched as fire and police crews worked to extricate one of the injured. People snapped photos with cell phones and digital cameras, inching at times too close to the wreckage, Sral said.
He said crowds are a problem at times and people need to realize they could interfere or make things worse.
''If [they're] not in the situation to help, they can become a part of the problem,'' he said, adding that fluids leaking at the scene of an accident can pose a danger.
Other bystanders - like a man with his arm draped protectively around the shoulder of a woman - stood back and took in the upsetting scene.
''You wonder why I'm afraid to start driving,'' a girl said to a nearby woman as they surveyed the damage. Another young blonde woman cried on a strip of grass running near the roadway while an older dark-haired woman held her.
Lakemont, Greenwood, Kittaning Trail and Duncansville volunteer fire departments responded to the scene.
