Woman Crashes SUV Into North Carolina Playground While Parking, Injures 3 Children

A woman has been charged with a safe movement violation after she crashed her SUV into a playground in North Carolina and injured three children while attempting to park. The driver and two of the kids had to be hospitalized.

Fiona Evans was parking her vehicle in a lot next to the playground outside Northside Elementary School in Chapel Hill on Tuesday afternoon. While trying to press the brake pedal, she accidentally pressed on the gas pedal and broke the fence of the playground, the News & Observer reported.

The Chapel Hill Police and Fire Departments responded to the scene at 4 p.m. Preliminary investigation revealed the woman crashed her vehicle through a fence and struck playground equipment, according to a news release posted on the town's website.

At the time of the crash, 20 children between the ages of 5 and 9 were in the playground "as part of an after-school program," police said.

Evans and the two of the kids injured in the crash were taken to UNC hospitals for treatment. The third child was treated at the scene for minor injuries.

Evans and one of the children were later released from the hospital.

"Of the three who were transported, one child remains at the hospital," police said.

Ebony and Tiffany Riley, two sisters whose kids attend Northside Elementary School, witnessed the incident and called it "crazy" and "traumatizing."

"We ran outside in the parking lot. We didn't see anything and we went to go get my daughter from after school and that's when we saw all the cops pull up and everything," the sisters, who also live across the school, told WTVD. "We hope they pull through and their injuries are not serious and for the driver as well. Whoever that driver is, we hope that they're OK as well because this couldn't be on purpose."

The Chapel Hill Police Crisis Counselors are assisting the families of the children affected by the incident.

Evans was charged Tuesday. Meanwhile, the crash remains under investigation.

In May 2020, a single-engine plane crashed on a school playground in northern Santa Barbara, California, killing its pilot. The aircraft, Cirrus SR20, bound for Santa Maria, crashed onto Ralph Dunlap Elementary School's basketball courts and burst into flames after taking off from Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles. Firefighters immediately responded to the scene and put out the fire. The victim was not publicly identified.