Church van crashes into Florida canal, killing 8 - SFGate

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — An overloaded church van ran through a stop sign, crossed all four lanes of a dark rural highway and crashed into a canal, killing eight people and injuring 10 early Monday in southern Florida, authorities said.

“They didn’t see that stop sign. They shot right through it,” said Glades County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Duane Pottorff. “It was a sad evening.”

The van was heading back to a Haitian church in Fort Pierce, north of West Palm Beach on the Atlantic coast, after a weekend convention in Fort Myers, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Eighteen people were in the 15-seat-capacity van when it crashed about 12:30 a.m. Monday, according to the Highway Patrol.

A 911 call came in at 12:31 a.m., and deputies arrived four minutes later, officials said. The van had gone down an 8-to-10 foot embankment and landed in the shallow canal, which is lined with tall grass and weeds.

“That’s a very steep embankment, and they kind of did a nosedive,” said Lt. Gregory Bueno of the Highway Patrol.

The crash killed the male driver and seven passengers, four male and three female, troopers said. Their names were not released pending notification of their families.

The Florida Highway Patrol identified 10 other passengers taken to four hospitals. Among them was a 4-year-old child who was not in a car seat, Bueno said. The child was later discharged, while four other adults were in critical condition.

All the people in the van were from Fort Pierce. Outside the Independent Haitian Assembly of God church on Monday, about three dozen friends and family members milled around the parking lot waiting for information.

Phillipe Dorce, 34, said his father-in-law and cousin were on the van. Dorce received a call about 1:15 a.m. and drove to the crash site. He said he helped authorities identify bodies. “I was there trying to be a man. But at the same time, I’m crying too,” he said.

Church pastor Esperant Lexine, 57, was injured in the crash, said his daughter, Dina Lexine Sarver, 23.

Nozaire Nore, 48, suffered a broken leg in the crash. He told Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers that the driver didn’t notice a curve in the road and couldn’t stop in time.