At least two people were killed, and five others were injured after a vehicle collusion that took firefighters almost an hour to extinguish, officials said Monday.
The crash occurred outside the Kodak Center venue around 12:50 a.m. ET Monday, where Rochester Police Department officers were assigned to the venue for a concert with approximately 1,000 people, according to Rochester Police Department Chief of Police, David Smith, who spoke at a news conference alongside Rochester Mayor Malik Evans, and FBI special agent Jeremy Bell.
Rochester police officers assisted with crossing pedestrians as concertgoers left the venue at the crosswalk in front of the location on Westridge Road, when just before that crosswalk, two cars collided with such force the vehicles went “through,” a group of people, according to Smith.
“Just before the crosswalk eastbound, a Ford expedition struck a Mitsubishi outlander that was exiting nearby parking lot,” said Smith. “The force of the collision caused the two vehicles to go through a group of pedestrians that were in the crosswalk and then into two other vehicles.”
As a result of the crash, a large fire erupted that took the Rochester Fire Department almost one hour to extinguish, according to Smith.
Two occupants from the vehicle that was struck, the Mitsubishi outlander, were killed, and the driver was transported to Rochester General Hospital in non-life-threatening conditions, Smith said.
As a result of the collusion, three pedestrians were struck and transported to a hospital and “numerous pedestrians,” including a Rochester police department officer were nearly struck by the vehicles.