The doors to Macy’s department store at NewPark Mall in Newark opened Thursday after a car driven by a 63-year-old woman crashed into the front glass door the day before, injuring six people.
Alameda County Fire Department Battalion Chief James Watkins said the driver, had a medical issue prior to crashing her Honda Fit at 50 mph into the store at 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday.
Four people suffered physical injuries. The first person hit was a man who just outside the store on the sidewalk. Police said his injuries are critical. Two others suffered "secondary injuries."
Officials said three people, including the driver, were inside the car at the time of the crash.
Firefighters are on scene of a vehicle into a bldg (Macy) at Newpark Mall. Total of 4 patients. #Newark pic.twitter.com/lFwssYed3R
— Alameda County Fire (@AlamedaCoFire) January 15, 2015"It could have been a lot worse. It was 5 o’clock, there was a lot of people inside the store," Watkins said. "We could have been dealing with a lot more injured people."
A Fremont woman named Robin told NBC Bay Area on Thursday that she was inside shopping on the second floor when the car crashed through the glass.
“I just heard, ‘Everybody evacuate!’ I really didn’t know what was going on. So I said it could be anything," she said. "So we exited from the top floor.”
She was there just to make a payment to her credit card, but something told her to go buy a coat. And if she hadn't gone up to the second floor, she coule have possibly been hit.
“I got home and I got to thinking, ‘Wow!' " she said. "I’m glad I was held up up there. I said, ‘That could have been me.’”
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Robin actually returned to the store on Thursday to buy that coat. She wasn't too worried.
"Wow," she said. "God's got a hand on me."
Cheryl Hurd contributed to this report.
