No structural damage found at R.I. school

NBC 10 News
Published: October 5, 2008

LINCOLN, R.I.—Lincoln High School will open as scheduled on Monday after inspectors determined a fiery crash through a school entrance that killed the driver caused no structural damage.

Superintendent Georgia Fortunato said Saturday that town and school building inspectors and an engineer agreed the building was safe.

The crash involving a teachers aide came an hour after students were dismissed Friday and none were injured.

Authorities said they were awaiting medical records Saturday and did not identify the victim.

Police said the intense fire in the car was due to an accelerant. But in their press statement they offered no details about what led to the crash.

Carmel Mendoza, a secretary in the school’s guidance department, and who was inside the building at the time of the accident, told NBC 10 that she witnessed the car crash into the school.

Mendoza told NBC 10 that two other co-workers attempted to pull out the driver, whom Mendoza described as a special education teacher’s aide.

Mendoza told NBC 10 that a few minutes before the crash, she had seen the aide leave the building and that the aide looked distraught.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.