4 injured as reversing car flips, crashes into downtown Vancouver building

Four people were seriously hurt in a bizarre crash Tuesday morning when a reversing car flipped over and crashed into a building in downtown Vancouver, police say.

The driver was trying to back their Honda Accord into a parking spot along Hornby Street when the car jumped the bike lane and sidewalk just before 9:30 a.m. PT. The vehicle flipped and hit several pedestrians before coming to rest on its roof outside the building.

Police said two pedestrians and two people inside the vehicle — the driver and a passenger — were taken to hospital. Sgt. Aaron Roed said the injuries are serious, but not life-threatening.

An initial statement said three pedestrians had been hurt, but Roed later said the third pedestrian only accompanied another person to hospital and was not treated for injuries.

The building houses a federal immigration office. No one inside the centre was hurt, but glass from the front windows was shattered.

Ron Langevin was one of several people walking down the sidewalk when he heard the car coming and ran behind one of the building's brick pillars to get out of the way.

"The car just stopped, right there [in front of me]," Langevin said. "I was pretty startled. Everyone was just rushing all over the place."

Officer Roed said it was not immediately clear how quickly the vehicle was travelling backward or how the crash happened.

"We don't see this type of accident every day ... we are glad that nobody was killed," Roed said.

Hornby Street, a one-way street that includes a bike lane, was closed for several hours between Helmcken and Davie streets as police investigated. The road and bike lane have since reopened.