MARCH 13, 2015
JOLIET, ILLINOIS
An 83-year-old woman apparently hit the gas instead of the
brakes and drove across Larkin Avenue, hitting a sign and parked car before
crashing through the office wall of the Auto Medics garage Friday.
"How anybody wasn't killed, I don't know," said
Rich Johnson, owner of Auto Medics, 108 S. Larkin Ave.
The accident happened at about 2:30 p.m.
Just five minutes earlier, Johnson said, a woman was sitting
in one of the chairs lining the wall the car crashed into. Johnson was the only
one in the office at the time the car broke through the wall.
"I'm in the office on the phone with a customer giving
an estimate and smash," he said.
The woman, whose name was not available, was leaving Delta
Sonic across the street when the mishap started.
Witnesses said the car knocked down an exit sign at Delta
Sonic, crossed Larkin, and went airborne for several feet after hitting the
curb outside Auto Medics. Then it drove into the Auto Medics parking lot,
totaled a customer's Kia, which was pushed into another car, causing front-end
damage.
Finally the vehicle, a Subaru Outback, crashed through the
front window of the office area, knocking out bricks from the wall as well.
"How she made it across Larkin without hitting any of
those (cars), I don't know," Johnson said. "If anyone would have been
sitting there (in the office), they would have been killed."
Police said the woman was 83 but her name was not
immediately available.
"She pulled out of the Delta Sonic parking lot going
southbound and thought her foot was on the brake and got confused and just
rammed into the Auto Medics," said Lt. Kevin LaBolle.
She was taken to Presence Saint Joseph Medical Center with
minor injuries.
Johnson said the woman did not appear injured but was
"dazed."
"She appeared to be frazzled," he said. "We
helped her out of the car."
Julian Cruz, a mechanic at Auto Medics, said he heard what
sounded like a snow plow coming down the street.
"I turned around just in time to see the car hit the
curb," Cruz said. "I saw it go airborne."
Johnson said he had contacted the owner of the Kia that was
totalled.
"He took it rather well over the phone," he said.
The garage area of Auto Medics, which includes two bays, was
not damaged. Johnson said he would continue doing business as usual and would
open at 8 a.m. Saturday as he normally does.