A 45 year-old nun suffered a broken back while leaping from a second floor window of her convent to escape a fire that authorities believe may have been a hate crime.
The New York Post is reporting that the fire tore through the convent at St. Joseph Hill Academy in Long Island early Saturday morning.
Fire fighters say two fires were started in separate parts of the building where two sisters were sleeping, trapping them upstairs and forcing Sister Regina Gegic to jump out of a second floor window.
Sister Regina suffered three broken vertebrae in the fall and is in intensive care in Staten Island University Hospital.
Four firefighters were also hurt in the blaze. The other sister escaped unharmed.
The New York Police Department’s Hate Crimes Task Force is assisting in the investigation of the blaze.
“It certainly has that potential (to be a bias crime),” NYPD Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Saturday according to the New York Daily News. “We know that it’s suspicious and started in two separate locations of the building. We are working with the fire marshals to determine the origin of the fire.”
At the time of the blaze, more than a dozen nuns were visiting from all over the globe to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Daughters of Divine Charity in the United States, the order that runs the academy. These sisters were staying in the newly constructed convent while Sister Gegic and another nun were sleeping in the old convent to make room for their guests.
This is not the first time the academy has suffered serious damage. The Post reports that in August, just a week before the new convent opened, a group of teens broke into the building and caused $15,000 worth of damage inside. They flooded halls with water and bleach, broke doors, smashed video monitors and filled the sinks with gravel.
Thankfully, a generous contractor repaired the damage so the nuns were able to move in as planned.
The sisters are reporting that Sister Regina is able to move her toes and are hoping that she will make a complete recovery.
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