Teen's Driving Lesson Goes Awry In Manchester Crash: Police

MANCHESTER, CT — Police said a driving lesson apparently went horribly wrong Friday, with the teenaged pupil literally driving a minivan through a vacant commercial building.

Manchester police said neither the 16-year-old male nor his 73-year-old male "instructor" were seriously harmed, only suffering "minor injuries," a testament to the fact the building he crashed through was a vacant store.

The incident happened at 205 Spencer St., a shopping plaza near Interstates 84 and 384.

Police said they were called for a report of a vehicle into a building. Upon arrival, a 2000 Ford Windstar minivan was found to have driven through the front of an unoccupied unit of the building, police said.

But the out-of-control vehicle did more than just drive into a building, police said. It drove through the building.

"The vehicle subsequently drove through the empty space inside the building and through the rear concrete wall, coming to a rest outside of the rear of the building," wrote the Manchester Police Department Friday afternoon.

Police said Manchester Fire Rescue EMS, the Manchester Fire Marshall's Office and the Manchester Building Department all responded to the scene.

In addition, Eversource Energy was called to look into potential damage to the building's electrical power supply, police said.