54-year-old driver taken to hospital for mental evaluation after apparently intentional crash, trying to smash doors with hammer

ST. CLAIR SHORES — A driver crashed through the entryway of St. Joan of Arc Church in St. Clair Shores, apparently intentionally, police and parish staff said July 23.

According to a report in The Detroit News on Friday night, neighbors witnessed a van driven by a 54-year-old man crash through the church’s entry doors on Friday afternoon. 

In a statement to parishioners, St. Joan of Arc pastor Msgr. G. Michael Bugarin said witnesses observed the man first try to smash the church’s doors with a hammer before returning in his vehicle. 

St. Clair Shores police responded to the scene. No one was injured, although the driver of the vehicle was taken to a hospital to undergo a mental health evaluation. 

According to the report, Msgr. Bugarin told parishioners the driver “did no other damage to the Church other than completely smashed through the doors and damaged the entrance ramp steps and handrails.”

Msgr. Bugarin said repairs are under way. 

“It will be obvious there was an incident at those doors because it will be boarded up and caution tape will section off that area from pedestrian traffic,” he wrote. “... Thankfully no one was injured!”

Detroit Catholic will update this report if more details become available.