Driver plows into Plymouth Moving Wall ceremony, injuring 8

PLYMOUTH – gatehouse news service

Veterans and family had begun filling rows of folding chairs facing a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall when a startling sound interrupted the steady cadence of American soldiers’ names being read in remembrance.

“A horn blasting, then crunch, crunch, crunch,” one woman recalled. “Then people screaming.”

A minivan driven by a 73-year-old woman plowed into the crowded lawn on the Plymouth waterfront on Wednesday afternoon, minutes before a ceremony to mark the arrival of a traveling replica of the memorial wall in Washington, D.C.

Eight people, including the driver, were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

By evening, all of the patients had been released, a Jordan Hospital spokesman said.

The incident came one day after a 93-year-old man drove through the front entrance of a Wal-Mart store in Danvers, injuring a mother and her 1-year-old daughter.

Police had not cited the woman for traffic violations as of Wednesdayt night but were investigating the accident. Police released no names.

Police Chief Michael Botieri said the woman was parking her minivan after dropping off her husband, who uses a wheelchair, when the vehicle accelerated over a curb, into the seating area.