Minivan strikes Green Bay building, turning much of its facade to pile of bricks

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — A minivan crashed into a building overnight in Wisconsin, toppling much of its brick facade and leaving much of its roof sagging precariously, police said Monday.

Officers called to an area near downtown Green Bay late Sunday found the damaged minivan outside the building, the facade mostly a pile of bricks on the ground and exposed beams jutting from the partly crumpled roof.

The minivan’s driver, a 29-year-old Green Bay woman, suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Police said she was taken into custody along with her passenger, a 27-year-old Oneida man, the Green Bay Press Gazette reported.

Green Bay police said the van bounced off the building and spun around and did not penetrate it as the facade fell to the sidewalk below.

James Brick, owner of the Main Street Commons building, said the car hit a “perfect spot” on one side of the building that made the facade and part of the roof collapse.

“We are hypothesizing demolishing that part of the building to let the other tenants back in,” he said.

Police Lt. Brad Strouf said the area along Green Bay’s Main Street could remain closed for several days.

“There’s a concern that more of that building — it’s about a two- or three-story building — could continue to collapse and then fall into Main Street. That’s why it’s shut down,” Strouf told WBAY-TV.