Local

Truck crashes into Southside church, members thankful no one was inside

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — One local church has been forced out of its building after a truck crashed through the front door.

Church members and witnesses are thankful no one was seriously injured in the crash.

(The) loudest sound I’ve heard in a while,” Aljuan Huntley said.

Huntley was at home when he saw a truck drive straight through a fence and continue through a grass field, ultimately ending in Coral Ridge Ministries. He said the truck barreled through the roundabout intersection and hit a median.

Huntley lives right across from the church, so he was one of the first on the scene. He said he saw the driver jump out of the moving car before it hit the church.

“You could even see it go airborne a little bit as it hit the little median as it came through. Just barely missed the church sign itself,” Huntley said.

Huntley said it looked like the driver was trying to run from the crash. He and a few others made sure he didn’t leave the scene.

“He definitely seemed intoxicated, because I was asking him if he was all right. He was like, ‘sometimes I drink beer,’” Huntley said.

Now church pastor Jeff Burnsed has to deal with the damages, which he said will most likely amount to thousands of dollars.

He stood in front of his church in disbelief.

Burnsed said no one was inside at the time of the crash.

“They just walked out just a few minutes before, like four minutes before,” Burnsed said.

Thankfully so, because the truck hit the church’s nursery, where kids play inside.

In the meantime, the congregation has to meet elsewhere because the building is unstable.

Action News Jax is working to learn what happened to the driver after the crash.

You can help donate to the church as it undergoes construction here:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/utjvg-rebuild-our-church.


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