VIDEO: Car still stuck in Salem building after Thursday crash

SALEM, Va. (WDBJ) - A driver hit a building in Salem Thursday and is being treated in a hospital.

Surveillance video shows the driver veer off West Main Street, onto a parking lot and into E3 Fitness, in a building owned by Culligan Water.

Culligan Water owner Mark Stoner told WDBJ7 exclusively the car was still in the building as of Friday afternoon, because the fire marshal hasn’t been able to remove it. No one was in the building at the time and the driver walked on his own to an ambulance, he said. First responders in Salem have not yet provided information, but Stoner said he understands the driver remains in a hospital, being treated for an apparent back injury. About the driver, Stoner said, “Apparently he suffered some kind of medical emergency that caused him to veer off of the road and into the building. I am told that he had blacked out due to coughing very hard.”

Stoner said the fire marshal told him he hasn’t seen anything quite like this incident, in that the car penetrated the building so far in, and the fact that fire crews have not been able to remove the vehicle due to safety and structural concerns to the building.

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