Three people are dead after a vehicle crashed into a plasma clinic in Pittsburgh’s Manchester neighborhood Saturday morning.

Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich confirmed three people died, including one person in the vehicle. Another person was transported in critical condition to a nearby hospital and another was treated at the scene.

Hissrich said a firefighter was transported to a nearby hospital with undisclosed injuries and one paramedic was treated for smoke inhalation.

A Hyundai SUV coming off the West End Bridge onto Western Avenue slammed into the front of Biomat USA at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. The clinic is at 1330 Western Ave., just off the bridge.

The collision left a 6-foot-high, 6-foot-wide hole in the building’s wall just to the left of the entrance.

The vehicle traveled another 100 feet into the building before striking another wall, according to Maurice Matthews, assistant Pittsburgh Public Information officer. Ten employees and five donors were inside the building at the time of the crash, Matthews said.

There was a two-alarm fire inside the building, and people were getting out as first responders arrived, Matthews said.

Hissrich said efforts were being made to stabilize the building so the victim inside the SUV and the SUV, itself, could be removed. That occurred later.

“Police are interviewing all of the individuals that were inside the building, both the donors and the workers,” Hissrich said. “We’re investigating.

“Was this an accident? We don’t know yet. We’re reviewing the video that we can get. We’re talking to witnesses. And then once we determine the driver of the car, we have to determine the background on that individual.”

A tow truck driver who said he saw the crash from across Western Avenue said the SUV came off the West End Bridge at a high rate of speed.

“I thought it was a cop car coming across the bridge, but I didn’t hear a siren,” said Jason Bezts, 37, of McKees Rocks. “I heard the engine whining and watched it go through the building.

“It sounded like the building exploded. We went over there to see if everybody was all right, and you couldn’t even see how far the car was in the building — it was all the way in the back where they donate the plasma.”

Standing before reporters in firefighting protective gear, Hissrich called it a tragedy.

“You wake up every morning and you don’t know what’s going to happen to you, whether it’s walking down the street or giving blood,” he said. “The first responders did everything they could to save those individuals that were in the building.”

Hissrich said his department is doing what it can to offer emotional support to the Biomat USA employees and blood donors at the scene.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)