In addition to those critically injured at Ireland’s Four Courts pub, four others were taken to hospitals in non-life-threatening condition, the police said. Six other people were treated at the scene, according to police.
The crash ignited a fire, which was extinguished. Video circulating on social media showed people moving away hurriedly as flames shot from the front of the pub.
About 30 people were in the red-fronted pub, both patrons and staff members, when server/bartender Mary Reilly heard what she described as a loud boom.
“We just heard this massive bang,” she said. “I’ve never heard anything like that.” She was in a part of the tavern away from the crash and did not see it. But she saw the immediate aftermath.
It included “dust and just debris coming forward,” she said.
As “pure panic broke out” she said, people rushed out the back.
Everybody was shouting, ‘Get out, get out, go in the back, go in the back.’”
Another witness to the immediate aftermath appeared shaken.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” the person said. “It was like carnage.”
Witnesses reported that a group of people at one table were among the most seriously injured. According to accounts of people at the scene, bystanders helped to extricate the injured from amid the debris.
The cause of the crash could not immediately be learned. Police spokeswoman Ashley Savage released no details about it. However she said the driver was one of those taken to a hospital. The type of vehicle was not disclosed. It appeared that it remained inside the building Friday night.
Nancy Donnella, who said she was a co-owner of the building where the crash occurred, said she was told by people at the scene that the crash occurred head-on.
The building is at the intersection of Wilson Boulevard and Courthouse Road; Courthouse intersects Wilson at a right angle. Donnella said she was told the vehicle had apparently been northbound on Courthouse and “Just ran right into it.”
That account could not be independently confirmed from police.
Savage said the building remained structurally sound. However, it was not clear when it would reopen.
Wilson Boulevard is a major east-west thoroughfare in Arlington. It is lined with high-rise office buildings and is a principal center of nightlife as well, with many restaurants and taverns.
In a Twitter message, the pub asked that the injured be kept in thoughts and prayers
It thanked first responders but added, “We are devastated.”
In a similar incident earlier this year in the District, two women died and at least nine other people were injured when the driver of a small SUV crashed into patrons outside a restaurant along Connecticut Avenue NW during lunch, according to D.C. police and fire officials.
This developing story has been updated.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism