Mayor: Driver intentionally crashed into ER; lit self aflame

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. — Authorities say a driver intentionally crashed into a Connecticut hospital emergency room with his car and then set himself on fire.

Middletown Mayor Dan Drew says the driver had multiple gasoline containers in the vehicle when he crashed through an entrance to Middlesex Hospital Thursday morning. Drew says the man’s motives aren’t known.

The driver was airlifted to Bridgeport Hospital’s burn unit in critical condition, reports CBS affiliate WFSB. No one else was hurt.

Authorities say the driver is a man in his 20s who is known to Middletown police. The Connecticut State Police Bomb Squad responded and the hospital went into “emergency operations mode,” reports WFSB.

A man who lives across from the hospital said he heard what sounded like an explosion and saw a man on fire come running out, screaming for help. The witness, Gary Mills, said responders put the man on a gurney.

“We went outside and we saw all the flames and then over this side I see this guy screaming, he was screaming! I said, that guy’s on fire,” Mills told WFSB.

Local authorities evacuated homes in the neighborhood where the driver lives and notified federal authorities.