12-year-old crashes into Idaho Falls church

After a 12-year-old drove an SUV into an Idaho Falls church early Tuesday morning, church members are saying it was a miracle the boy wasn’t hurt.

A parent called police to New Life Church on 2170 12th Street around 3 a.m. for a crash involving a 12-, 13- and 14-year-old.

Officers said the three had taken two vehicles, a 2000 Yukon and a 2000 Cadillac STS, without consent. While driving the Yukon, the 12-year-old lost control and crashed into the church.

The Yukon traveled through the west outer wall into the inner wall and stopped inside the church on the stage.

Road signs were knocked down inside the building, as the church has been presenting a “Signs of the Times” series of sermons.

No estimate has been given on the cost of the crash, but church board member Jeff Kreuger said he was surprised at the amount of damage.

“I got a call that a young kid, a 12-year-old kid, had driven through the wall of the church and went all the way to the stage and thought, ‘Well, that’s probably a slight exaggeration,’ but when I got here I thought, ‘Well, that’s about as much damage as you could possibly do with one vehicle,'” he said.

The Yukon came close to hitting a major support beam.

“By the grace of God he didn’t get hurt,” said Kreuger. “This is a building. It can be fixed. The car can be replaced. The kid, not so much.”

“You know, a building is a building,” said Steve Winn, associate pastor. “But what we’re excited about is that the boy was protected and is without harm. That’s what’s important to us.”

Winn said although there’s a lot of cleanup ahead for the church, including flood damage, services are still planned for Sunday.

On Friday, police said the 13-year-old boy and 14-year-old girl were both cited for operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent. The 12-year-old was referred to the Bonneville County Prosecutor’s Office on a felony charge of operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent with damage over $1,000.