An elderly man driving a loaner from a car dealership drove it into a store in Walnut Creek Tuesday morning, injuring one person.
The motorist plowed a white Honda into plant stands and display tables on the sidewalk in front of the CVS in the Countrywood shopping center at the intersection of Treat and Bancroft boulevards.
Witnesses said the white Honda sedan pulled into a handicapped parking spot and kept going straight into the store and racks of colorful potted plants.
Tony Fioreli said the driver wedged the car in between the exterior wall of the CVS and a pillar on the sidewalk, but still his tires kept spinning. Fioreli and another man had to bang on the car’s window to get the driver to stop.
A driver accidentally plowed into a CVS in Walnut Creek. Luckily, only minor injuries were reported. @nbcbayarea pic.twitter.com/rKxamakywI
— Elyce Kirchner (@ElyceK) February 2, 2016
“He slammed back into the building and pinned his car to this pillar here. And he was still peeling out, still peeling out. An employee and myself, we ran to the car, banging on his window to stop,” Fioreli said. "He was really shocked. He looked at us and then he stopped. He didn’t know what was going on."
One person went to the hospital with minor injuries caused by the plant stands and flying debris, said Walnut Creek Police Traffic Officer Andy Lingua. The driver was 86 years old.
“It’s a loaner car from Concord Honda. And he said he just doesn’t know what happened. He was an elderly man, got confused obviously,” said witness Lesley Loyola.
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Officers say there were no drugs or alcohol involved and suspect the man confused the gas and the brake pedals. The car had a sign in the back window that read Concord Honda.
