Driver killed after crashing into East Third Street church
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A 25-year-old Trout Run area man was killed Saturday morning when his pickup truck crashed into an addition to the New Covenant United Church of Christ at East Third and Basin streets in the city, Lycoming County Coroner Charles E. Kiessling Jr. said.
Shawn Michael Smith was driving west on East Third Street in a Nissan Frontier pickup truck "at an apparent high rate of speed and lost control of the vehicle about 9:10 a.m.," Kiessling said.
The truck went up on the sidewalk and struck a street lamp that flew about 60 yards, investigators said.
The vehicle obliterated a blessing box, used to store canned goods, and another box containing books, officials said. The items were left outside for anyone walking by to help themselves.
The truck then slammed head-on into the east wall of the church addition that was built in 1966.
City police and firefighters as well as paramedics rushed to the scene and began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Smith, who was unresponsive. He was taken to UPMC Williamsport with multiple traumatic injuries, Kiessling said, adding that efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
The addition to the church is used for a lobby, offices and Sunday school classrooms, a church staff member at the scene said. A member of the city's Bureau of Codes responded as well. No damage estimate was available Sunday night. The church was able to conduct its Sunday service.
The crash left a large gaping hole in a west wall, and there were visible cracks in an adjoining wall as well.
East Third Street from Basin to Mulberry streets was closed for a little more than an hour until the wreck was cleaned up.