A paramedic carries a child’s car seat into an ambulance after the car it was in crashed into an emergency exit door Tuesday at Costco in north London. (CRAIG GLOVER, The London Free Press)
Nobody was injured when a car crashed into doors at the north London Costco on Tuesday afternoon.
The car with two women and an infant inside drove over a curb and crashed into the side of the Costco on Wonderland Road, denting the metal doors and damaging the front of the vehicle.
Unlike a fatal crash at the south-end Costco in 2014, the doors that were struck Tuesday were not regularly used by customers and were at the side of the building away from the main entrance.
Dave Cornish was driving out of the parking lot with his wife when he saw the crash. He said it looked like “a freak accident” because he could see the women’s brake lights on as the car accelerated.
“I saw her slow down to pull into the spot, then all of a sudden the car just flew up, jumped the curb and smoked the door,” said Cornish, who stopped to ensure the people inside were safe.
“I thought maybe the driver had a heart attack, but everyone was OK, just in shock.”
Cornish said a Costco employee called paramedics after the driver said she wanted the infant to receive medical attention.
The child and the two women were unharmed.
It was a different story in 2014, though, when a woman crashed into the front doors of the south London Costco, hitting a woman who was pregnant and her two young daughters.
One of the daughter’s and the woman’s baby died while the mother and other daughter were injured.
The July 25, 2014, crash raised questions about the placement of barriers at the edge of the sidewalk in front of the store where it meets the parking lot.
Ruth Burger, 66 at the time, was backing out of the lot and suddenly began to accelerate backwards. In a span of five seconds, she reached speeds close to 50 km/h, before her car shot through the red barriers at the front of the store and crashed into the entrance, hitting the young family.
Burger was convicted of two counts of dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing bodily harm. She received three years probation and 240 hours community service and was slapped with a five-year driving ban.
Source: Car crashes into doors at north-end Costco | The London Free Press
