LYNN — The driver who was seriously injured in a horrific Lynnway crash Tuesday afternoon is a Rhode Island priest, according to a statement from the Catholic Diocese of Providence.
According to the Diocese, Father Richard Bucci, of West Warwick’s Sacred Heart Church, was the man who drove his car over a curb and smashed into a tree near North Shore Community College.
Bucci, 72, had to be extricated from his 2017 Acura Sedan by the Lynn Fire Department and was taken to Salem Hospital. State Police had no further update on his condition Wednesday evening.
“The Diocese requests prayers for Father Bucci, and his family, friends and parishioners during this difficult time,” reads the statement released by the Diocese Wednesday morning.
Bucci has caused waves recently for his controversial remarks on abortion and pedophilia, according to the Providence Journal.
Last month, he said he would bar Rhode Island lawmakers from receiving communion if they supported the state’s abortion rights legislation, according to the Journal.
He caused further controversy when he defended his remarks on abortion by downplaying the traumatic effects of pedophilia, or child sexual abuse, in an interview with WJAR.
“We’re not talking about any other moral issue, where some may make a comparison between pedophilia and abortion,” he told WJAR. “Well, pedophilia doesn’t kill anyone, and this does.”
He later backtracked a bit in an interview with the Providence Journal, saying that pedophilia can be fatal, but abortion is still worse.
The crash is under investigation by the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section and Crime Scene Services Section.
