Posted on 05/11/2007 4:48:40 PM PDT by Omega Man II
Woman, 89, plows into patio at Gelson's Market
BY RICK COCA, Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 05/10/2007 08:05:46 PM PDT
VALLEY VILLAGE - An 89-year-old woman backed out of a parking space Thursday and plowed into the patio dining area of Gelson's Market, critically injuring a man and seriously hurting a mother and her 3-year-old daughter, officials said.
The collision occurred at 1:45 p.m. when a number of people were seated in the outdoor dining area at 4738 Laurel Canyon Blvd., police said.
"She evidently put her car in reverse instead of forward," said LAPD Lt. Steven Allen. "She hit the gas, went over a concrete bumper, drove though a hedge and hit three people sitting at a concrete table.
"She sheared the concrete table off at the base."
A man in his 50s was critically injured and taken to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, said Los Angeles City Fire Department spokeswoman Melissa Kelley. A 35-year-old woman and her daughter were taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center with serious injuries.
The driver, whose name was not released, was taken to Sherman Oaks Medical Center for treatment after complaining of breathing difficulties.
Los Angeles police were investigating the cause of the crash, the latest Southland crash involving an elderly driver.
In April, a 66-year handicapped man with a modified gas pedal injured four people when he drove his car into a patio area at a Costco store in Burbank.
A 1-year-old girl, her 29-year-old mother and her 54- year-old grandmother suffered minor injuries and a 49-year-old man had a broken pelvis as well as head injuries.
In July 2003, George Russell Weller, then 86, killed 10 people and injured scores of others when he drove his 1992 Buick Le Sabre through the Santa Monica Farmers' Market, mowing down everything in his path.
Weller was convicted of 10 counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. The judge in that case said Weller deserved to be sentenced to prison, but citing Weller's failing health, sentenced him to probation.
“She evidently put her car in reverse instead of forward,”
That will happen... Doesn’t have to be 79 either.
Shades of George Weller (the guy who plowed through Third Street Promenade in 2003), except in that case ten were killed and 63 injured.
Wot, not an illegal immigrant?
A sound driver would instantly realize the mistake before reversing more than a few inches.
She probably hit the brakes a full minute after the "accident" (which it wasn't, by any sane definition).
She evidently thought that the gas pedal WAS the brake.
Or maybe she forgot where the brake pedal was.
It’s not a bad idea to separate parking areas from sitting and eating areas with posts that will stop a car.
You can’t put them everywhere, but this sounds like a place where they should have been installed.
There are few things more dangerous than maneuvering a car around a parking lot anyway, and running a parking lot and an eating area together isn’t very smart.
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