14 hurt when car crashes into Hanukkah party

updated 6:59 p.m. ET Dec. 25, 2008

WOODMERE, N.Y. - An out-of-control car slammed into a building where Orthodox Jewish families were celebrating Hanukkah on Thursday, injuring 14 people, police said.

Nassau County police Officer Patricia Tanksley said the 76-year-old driver lost control of his car Thursday afternoon and slammed it through a plateglass window of the Long Island building.

At least six of the injured were young children and two of them were seriously injured, hospital officials said.

The families from the Chabad Orthodox Jewish movement were celebrating Chanukah Wonderland, an all-day celebration with events geared for children, including a fun house and a Chanukah theater. Thursday was the fifth day of the eight-day Jewish festival of lights.

A person who answered the phone at the Chabad offices on suburban Long Island said no one was available to comment. Woodmere is about 25 miles southeast of Manhattan.

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