1 Dead, 7 Hurt When Car Plows Into Gymnasium

INDIANAPOLIS — A car driven by a 76-year-old woman veered off a street, crashed through the steel doors of a YMCA gymnasium and plowed into a group of basketball players Friday, killing one person and injuring seven.

Authorities weren’t sure why Mary Roberts’ car sped across the YMCA’s parking lot, crashed through the doors and knocked down a cinder block wall before stopping at the far end of the gym. The speedometer was stuck on 50 mph.

Between 25 and 30 people were playing two separate games of pickup basketball at the time. Adam Miller, 26, of Indianapolis, died instantly when he was apparently struck by the doors as they were thrown into the building by the force of the collision.

“He was sitting right about where the car came in,” said Mark Smith, a witness. “He was struck in the head and it was just very sickening to look at.”

Roberts was hospitalized in stable condition with broken facial bones.

Marion County Sheriff’s Col. Scott Minier said it wasn’t immediately clear whether a mechanical defect, a health condition or some other factor caused the woman’s car to go out of control.

“Witnesses tell us that about two blocks south of there, she crossed the center line, gunned her engine and drove erratically, nearly striking two cars,” Minier said.

“After that, the road curves and she proceeded over a patch of grass, struck a steel set of double doors and drove across the gym floor,” he said.