MURRAY, Utah, Aug. 2, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — The Murray City School District was hosting back-to-school meetings for Friday morning when an uninvited guest crashed the gathering.
“Big start to our new school year!,” District officials joked on Facebook, sharing a photo of a gray SUV that ran into a building wall.
“No one was hurt, but it was a pretty unique way to get our ‘Administrator & Secretary Back-to-School’ meetings going.”
District officials say there was only minor damage to the wall, which was decorative rather than structural. The building is at 5102 S. Commerce Drive
As for the driver, District spokeswoman D. Wright told Gephardt Daily that employees watched through a nearby window as he squeezed out from behind an inflated airbag and exited through the SUV’s front passenger door.
“They watched him kind of walk out,” Wright said of the administrators in the meeting. “A few went to see if they could provide assistance, but he started running when they came out. A couple got in cars and followed him, but he disappeared into the neighborhood.”
One person in the room saw the SUV before it hit.
“It was in the Board of Education room, and one woman had gone to lower the blind because the sun was bright,” Wright said.
“She said, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s a car coming.’ She stood and watched it.”
Officials called police to the scene. As of 3:30 p.m., no suspect was in custody, a Murray City Police Department official said.
“The car was very badly damaged,” Wright said. “I would guess it was totaled. It was also kind of rusted out. It looked like it had a hard life.”
Wright said everyone was relieved no employees or bystanders were injured. The building is near mass transit stations, and the sidewalk is often busy, she said.
There’s no plan to repair the slightly dented bricks, Wright said. Maintenance crews plan to give it a power washing to make it less noticeable.
“We feel very fortunate,” she said. “As it stands now, it was a unique and weird way for us to start the school year.”
