Pastor speaks out after van crash sends 14 to hospital



MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- A violent crash involving a Milwaukee church van shut down the Chicago expressway over the weekend. Days later, FOX6 News spoke with the church's pastor, who was in the van at the time of the crash.

"It was a traumatic experience, it really was," Pastor Lezar Burnside said.

Already a religious man, Pastor Burnside with Holy Temple Firstborn Missionary Baptist Church in Milwaukee says his faith is even stronger after a terrible crash on the Chicago interstate.

"I really feel that it could have been a whole lot worse than it was," Pastor Burnside said.

After attending a funeral service Saturday, Pastor Burnside was driving a church van with 14 people in it back to Milwaukee.

"I don`t know where the car came from.  When I recognized the car, it was colliding with the van," Pastor Burnside said.

Pastor Burnside says he heard the crash before seeing the oncoming car.

"They say he was weaving in and out of traffic and he clipped the front end, and when he clipped the front end of the van, the van lost control and then it ran into the highway wall and bounced off it and hit it a second time and then it just started spinning around," Pastor Burnside said.

Windows shattered as the van spun and hit two more cars. Then, they came to a rest.

"Most of us were in shock. There was crying going on. There were a couple of people who were frantic. My wife had a seizure," Pastor Burnside said.

All 14 people, including a 20-month-old were taken to the hospital.

"One of the members was bleeding really bad.  Her shoulder became dislocated. She was in a lot of pain," Pastor Burnside said.

Pastor Burnside spent the night in the hospital, as doctors monitored possible trauma to his heart. He was released on Sunday.

In the end, no one in the van was seriously injured.

"It gives me the greatest joy and it makes my faith in God that much better. I`ve always had faith but it just makes me feel that much better to know he had us covered," Pastor Burnside said.

Police have yet to find the driver responsible for striking the van.