An elderly woman is presumed to have mistaken the brake for the gas pedal Wednesday morning after crashing into a medical building in View Royal.
“The driver is OK, but she’s gone to the hospital to get checked out,” said Const. Mark Haggan of the West Shore RCMP. “No one was injured.”
While attempting to park in front of the West Shore Maternity Care and Family Practice at Helmcken Road and Island Higway, the driver, in her late 60s or early 70s accelerated up onto the curb and smashed the window of the office.
“We were in the back and just heard a bang and came out,” said medical office assistant Glenda Rosberg. No one in the waiting area at the time of the crash.
Before hitting the window, the car smashed an outside bench into pieces.
“If someone had been sitting at that bench it would have been another story,” said View Royal fire Lieut. Heath Bevan.
Just before the crash, Lucas Phillips, a barista at the neighbouring coffee shop, had been sitting on the bench with two young children.
“I was sitting at the bench with them just two minutes before. I had just brought them inside to get some water when we heard it,” Phillips said. “It’s a pretty heart pounding (experience).”
reporter@goldstreamgazette.com