Coeur d’Alene police responded in force Wednesday to a protest outside of Kootenai Health after receiving reports that a truck had driven into a group of protesters.

In reality, a man who suffered a heart attack Wednesday afternoon was driving himself to the hospital when he crashed into a power pole at Kootenai Health near a group of people protesting an aspect of the state’s health care laws, witnesses said.

“It was an elderly man,” said Capt. Dave Hagar of the Coeur d’Alene Police Department. “He suffered a medical emergency and ran into a pole.”

The initial report stated many protesters were injured, which proved not to be true.

“We sent a lot of people there,” Hagar said. “We were told there were mass casualties.”

To the relief of police, the facts weren’t as had been reported.

Witnesses said that around the time of the crash, protesters were sitting or lying on the ground in prayer, which may have given the appearance that they had been injured when the truck ran out of control.

Medical personnel responded quickly and gave the man CPR. His condition was not released.

Despite the initial confusion about protesters being hurt, there were no other injuries reported from the protest, police said.