Accident Sends DART Bus Into Building

Dallas Area Rapid Transit police are investigating an accident that ended with a DART bus inside a Salvation Army store.

The accident happened at around 6 a.m. Saturday. DART said a bus was eastbound on W. Jefferson Boulevard when it collided with a car that may have been going the wrong way on Polk Street, which is a one-way street.

DART said the bus, with two passengers on board, then collided with a Salvation Army storefront at 939 W. Jefferson Boulevard.

"It's rare that our vehicles, obviously, hit buildings. I mean, they're on the street. But in an effort either to avoid hitting something else or because of the impact of the private vehicle, our bus operator couldn't do anything but steer in that direction, unfortunately," said DART spokesman Mark Ball.

Two people in the car as well as the DART bus driver and one bus passenger were taken by ambulance to nearby Methodist Medical Center in Oak Cliff, none have life-threatening injuries. The injured DART passenger was in a wheelchair on the way to dialysis treatment at the time of the accident. No one was inside the Salvation Army store when the bus crashed through.

It took several attempts before a tow truck could pull the bus out of the store without knocking down a couple of parking meters along the street.

"It's going to be an interesting cleanup and it's going to be an interesting thing for us to keep moving forward with," said Cynthia Ard, Salvation Army store supervisor, who oversees all the Dallas-area stores. "This is definitely the first time you would see something like this up front, and so, it is an amazing sight."

The Salvation Army said hundreds of customers visit that store on Saturdays and it hoped to open the store later this afternoon, but because of all of the cleanup and safety concerns, the store may not be able to reopen today.

More: DART Averages 3 Crashes a Day

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