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B1Baker OP t1_ix91awp wrote

At least 1 person died & 19 were left injured, 4 critically, after a black SUV crashed into an Apple store in Hingham, Massachusetts. Multiple others are still trapped inside the store. Police are now getting a tow truck to remove the vehicle.

Update: Those trapped in the store have now been removed.

183

SoCal4247 t1_ix92fya wrote

Why are they trapped inside? Surely there is an exit through the back?

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myleftone t1_ix97bc1 wrote

No skid marks, and a deliberate turn and curb jump was required. Just sayin’

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KarmaPharmacy t1_ix9a6mu wrote

I’m very surprised that there were no steel / cement barricades to stop someone from doing this. I see them literally everywhere

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hamsterbackpack t1_ix9cxp3 wrote

Apple uses those heavy wooden display tables that weigh several hundred pounds (source: have had to move them), so I wouldn’t be surprised if people were pinned by them/the SUV

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jjhorann t1_ix9e5a4 wrote

omfg. i’m from mass and have been there numerous times, wow.

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JackMitcham t1_ix9eo99 wrote

Holy crap, that's only a few miles away from me. Hingham is a fairly well-off community that never makes the news for anything bad.

It's best known as the home of the original Wahlburgers, I guess.

We've been to that shopping area quite a few times. Crazy.

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iamdan1 t1_ix9h705 wrote

I wouldn't agree that a deliberate turn was needed. Based on the Streetview of the mall, the driver might have passed the Barnes and Noble, and turned left to go past the Apple Store (since that seems like the flow of traffic in that plaza). Could have been an elderly person that got startled by something, like a pedestrian, and hit the gas instead of the brake and gone straight over the curb in the store, and kept hitting the gas because they were confused. And since the car was described as a large SUV, it probably jumped the curb with no problem.

Obviously we are just guessing, but I would suspect age instead of something malicious.

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HugryHugryHippo t1_ix9kwzk wrote

Remember that story of the elderly woman who kept driving into a mall looking for the Apple Store? She ignored poles, the sliding doors, the narrow walkway of people and store fronts and all the signs you're not supposed to drive your car into a mall?

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BOS2FL t1_ix9le3j wrote

Damn, this is my home town. Never seen it on the news...

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stomach t1_ix9mw70 wrote

am i dreaming, or do i feel like a lot of times when it's an older person (confused) as you described, a story often ends with 'the crash does not appear to be intentional at this time'

not sure if this is some version of a canary in a coal mine to communicate this fact before police want to make an official statement or if it's just random and i'm imagining any sort of pattern

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andweallenduphere t1_ix9mx0e wrote

Ya no news yet.

I'm awaiting a text from my neighbor who works in a shop near by and I'm getting nervous.

There is speculation that the driver was a former employee but I can't find verification on that so just a rumor at this point.

Ugh.

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Darth__Monday t1_ix9p382 wrote

And there it is. The only reason I came to these comments was cuz I was like “where the hell is Hingham?” Found the comment by a local, got a clue about Wahlburger and scroll a bit further for the state. Ok, I’m done here. Back to r/all.

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iamdan1 t1_ix9po92 wrote

It is still very hypothetical since we have no idea what happened, but official statements try to stick to actual evidence, and with an older person confusing the pedals, there is no real physical evidence of what happened. So they can only say that it did not appear to be intentional because it was not intentional, and the only person that truly knows was the driver, who might not be fully aware of what they were doing at the time (or the shock of it, and humans incredibly fallible memory make true recollection impossible).

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renwill t1_ix9pyxc wrote

My mom works in the building across the street from the hospital where the victims were taken. She said it was crazy, all the sirens going off. She found out what happened pretty quickly because my brother works for a local news agency. I've been in that store multiple times over the years. It doesn't directly face any parking spaces, so it's not so likely that someone accidentally floored it while parking or anything. Apparently there were a few people who were laying outside the store, probably because they were on the sidewalk outside when the car came through.

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gnusmas5441 t1_ix9q95s wrote

Drivers are usually taken into custody in cases of vehicular homicide (which could turn out to have an involuntary cause) - for substance testing among other reasons. The driver being detained - on its own - says little about whether the police believe it was deliberate.

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B1Baker OP t1_ix9qqqx wrote

Yes. I definitely suspect this was deliberate. I wasn't sure at first, but now I know it happened on the one year anniversary of that car attack at a parade in Wisconsin. If this isn't a copycat crime, It's a very big coincidence.

According to this article, a criminal investigation is underway as well.

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badibadi t1_ix9qvw1 wrote

I was just discussing this with my spouse. But we live nearby and we know the specific corner and this particular store extremely well. The thing that makes it sound like it was purposeful, rather than accidental is that the speed you need to make it from the street, across the fairly wide sidewalk (at this particular spot), through the glass wall, all the heavy tables and large, wooden block stools, all the people and into the wall at the other end of the store.....it just can't be explained with the force you'd use on the brake pedal to slow down, going around the bend. You'd have to not only hit the gas hard, you'd have to start accelerating a few yards up the road before hitting the corner. You'd have to floor it. I'm almost certain this was not an accident.

My heart goes out to all the people involved, especially the families of the person who lost their life, the many injured, the store employees (who are almost all regulars for many years) and the store manager, who is a local from my town and whom I know as well. This is absolutely horrifying on every level.

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AreWeCowabunga t1_ix9srd7 wrote

>best known as the home of the original Wahlburgers

Is that really something to be proud of?

It’s also the home of the oldest church in continuous ecclesiastical use in the US, the first coed school in the US, and Stars, which has decent clam chowder.

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needabiggerhammer t1_ix9wkg1 wrote

Crashes like this that are not intentional could be mostly involving older people. That would cause your brain to latch on to the pattern. And this type of thing, although usually much less severe, tends to be the trigger for "time to take the keys away" conversations that should have happened long before.

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badibadi t1_ix9zuoz wrote

I should add that they're now saying he was going 50-60mph. An accidental hit of the gas pedal doesn't get a 2019 Toyota 4Runner to 60mph that quickly. Does it? That takes considerable acceleration.

It also so horrifying to see that he went diagonally across the store not the short way, right across as I thought. He ended up in the wall, right by the door that serves as the emergency exit and leads to the back rooms and offices. He pinned several people, including a construction worker who had been working back there and was killed in this incident.

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aDirtyMartini t1_ixa572o wrote

Not sure if this is true:

“The person who drove into the Apple Store was a 53 year old male from Hingham, who was a disgruntled employee.

The car was going 60-80mph at the time of entry.”

https://twitter.com/royalintel_/status/1594749181612425216.

UPDATE: The suspect has been officially arrested.
https://www.patriotledger.com/story/news/2022/11/22/clean-up-starts-at-derby-street-after-deadly-crash-through-apple-storefront/69670045007/

UPDATE 2: He had no connection to the store and claimed that his foot got stuck on the accelerator: "While driving in the area of Barnes and Noble, Mr. Rein stated his right foot became stuck on the accelerator and his vehicle accelerated," State Trooper Andrew Chiachio wrote in a police report. "Mr. Rein stated he used his left foot to try to brake, but was unable to stop the vehicle and crashed through the front of the Apple store."

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touchytypist t1_ixabysn wrote

It's not a joke. Worked at mall with an outdoor section that Apple was interested in putting a store at. In front of all the stores between the street and sidewalk was plants and small trees, Apple specifically requested to remove them.

They did, and the mall had an Apple store without any obstructions to viewing its storefront.

Edit: Interestingly, that Apple store also had some crazy person ram their car into it. Luckily it was while the store was closed so no one was hurt, since they were trying to steal some iPads and Macs.

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gsvnvariable t1_ixagk8n wrote

Wonder if that driver had an iPhone 14 with crash detection 😆

“We’ve detected you’ve been in a car crash. Are you alrigh—wait we know this place”

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EMF15Q t1_ixahe89 wrote

There’s no possible way he was going that fast. It’s an open lot/plaza, but there’s not enough room for a 4Runner to get up to those speeds especially where the Apple Store is located there.

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ericchen t1_ixajb45 wrote

Damn, if that’s true that’s some great engineering in the part of the car manufacturer and store contractors. I would think the hole in the glass would be way bigger than what’s shown in the pictures.

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Zerv14 t1_ixar81d wrote

I believe it was a current gen (2019) 4runner which has a fairly ancient engine and transmission that's been due for a refresh for years. They don't accelerate very quickly by modern standards.

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Hall-Double t1_ixav2tb wrote

Forget the view from the store front, there needs to be barricades of sorts, to prevent this tragedy from happening again.

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YouthInRevolt t1_ixawtts wrote

This tweet starts off with the following:

#BREAKING #Urgent #BoycottQatar2022 #Boston #Hingham

Doesn’t necessarily mean it’s BS, but that middle hashtag seems a bit out of place to say the least

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Anom-nom-nominous t1_ixb5f23 wrote

"This iPhone is experiencing technical difficulty. Please take it to the nearest Apple Store at your earliest convenience. … … Note that the nearest Apple Store is currently reporting longer-than-normal delays."

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stonedseals t1_ixb9tb8 wrote

Lol, well there were maybe 15 people that looked under 60, although I did go around 2 or 3 to minimize wait time.

Was kinda nervous that I'd parked too close to the door once I got in there :P

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brumac44 t1_ixbramy wrote

Gamut, not gambit. Dammit

2

ace72ace t1_ixcakmw wrote

I remember when that area had an ancient abandoned Raymond’s department store back in the 70s. Decades later after graduating from college I couldn’t recognize the place. Hingham is about as nice as it gets for a sleepy south shore town/city. Prayers for the family of the deceased and injured.

3

BadVoodoo85 t1_ixcxlm0 wrote

Its absolute bullshit that concrete of some sort wasn't in front of a glass store front all for some bourgeoisie ass aesthetic. Blood is definitely on the hands of whoever didn't want them.

*Edited didn't realize apple stores are non-franchise.

−1

NikeSwish t1_ixd3fol wrote

I didn’t say he made a joke. I was saying that it’s not an Apple design choice to not have the bollards and it’s a shopping center choice. Plus Apple stores aren’t franchised, they’re all owned by Apple. Again, there’s bollards in front of my local Apple stores, so more than likely it was the shopping centers choice not to have them.

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iamdan1 t1_ixd88xt wrote

Obviously we still don't know the full story, and I do feel there is more to it, but from another article: ""While driving in the area of Barnes and Noble, Mr. Rein stated his right foot became stuck on the accelerator and his vehicle accelerated," State Trooper Andrew Chiachio wrote in a police report. "Mr. Rein stated he used his left foot to try to brake, but was unable to stop the vehicle and crashed through the front of the Apple store.""

The gas pedal on my car got stuck once (I later figured out why and it was really stupid and 100% not the cars fault), and I immediately reacted by braking, shifting into neutral (automatic transmission) and steering the car off the road. I was just accelerating at a green light, so it all happened under 10 mph, but it was scary.

I think we need to make people re-take periodic driving tests/courses to re-educate older drivers. And yes, 50s is older.

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Bethsoda t1_ixdj5ax wrote

This is so sketchy though - he's not saying the pedal got stuck but that his foot got stuck? And why could he steer to avoid the store - at the very least he could've steered towards a solid wall as it would be more likely to just hurt him and not others.

1

Aspergian_Asparagus t1_ixez9dl wrote

I worked a few years at Lowe’s and old people would drive inside the store at least once or twice a month through the garden center doors and (especially) the lumber roll up doorway. A few would just park in the middle of the lumber aisle and start shopping elsewhere in the store.

We really need a better alternative than allowing people that are way too old, mentally unfit, or physically unfit to drive.

1