PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Video exclusively obtained by CBS News Philadelphia shows a SEPTA trolley leaving the tracks and hitting multiple vehicles before slamming into a historic building in Southwest Philadelphia Thursday night.
The crash happened around 10:30 p.m. at Island Avenue and the Cobbs Creek Parkway near the Elmwood trolley depot. In the video from Mac’s Towing, the trolley barely misses one car before sideswiping multiple vehicles and hitting the historic Blue Bell Inn.
A mechanic on the trolley was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center with injuries that were not life threatening. No passengers were aboard.
Two people in one of the damaged vehicles were injured.
The Inn’s caretaker was in the building at the time of the crash, and was on the second floor when the trolley barreled through her home.
She walked downstairs to find the trolley planted in her living room.
“I’m really glad my son was at his dad’s house and not here,” caretaker Delia King said. “I would have been there painting and luckily I was just not up to it tonight.”
A former tavern, the Blue Bell Inn dates back to 1766 and served customers including George Washington.
The driver whose dashcam showed parts of the incident described it as something out of a movie.
“When I was coming across the intersection I seen a trolley in front of me coming backwards, so I pulled into the gas station,” he said. “The trolley went completely by me and crashed into that house.”
SEPTA says it is assessing the damage and will make repairs.
Later Friday morning, the trolley had been removed from the home.
There have been multiple crashes involving SEPTA vehicles in the past week.Â
On Tuesday night, a SEPTA bus crashed into a building in Center City.Â
Last week, two SEPTA buses crashed into each other in Rhawnhurst. The crash left one person dead and 13 others injured.Â
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