Driver Injured As Car Swerves Into St. Paul's

The driver of a car which crashed yesterday morning into St. Paul's Church was reported today to be in fair condition, authorities at the Cambridge City Hospital said yesterday.

Police tentatively identified the man as Mark N. Coleman, whose red Subaru swerved through the intersection of Mount Auburn and Dewolfe Street 1:30 a.m. yesterday morning and crashed into the church.

Speeding Subaru

Harvard Police reported that Coleman, a Boston resident, was bleeding heavily and had severe lacerations when they arrived on the scene. The police administered first aid to the driver until a rescue squad arrived at 1:45 a.m. to take the 25-year-old to Cambridge City Hospital.

Witnesses said that the Subaru was travelling down Mount Auburn Street at a fast speed and swerved to avoid a car that pulled out from in front of Sage's Jr. Market. The driver lost control of the vehicle while passing through the intersection and collided into a brick wall of the church, knocking down a parking meter.

The Subaru had a valid Harvard Business School parking sticker, but it was not possible to determine yesterday Coleman's affiliation to the University. Coleman, reached by phone at the hospital, declined to comment.

Witnesses described a long skid and a very loud noise which was audible to Quincy and Adams House residents.

"It was very late and I heard a long screech, like a bomb about to go off, and then the boom of the crash," said Adams House A-entry resident Ann M. Colin '87, who said she heard the accident from her room.