Glendale News Press
March 15, 2005
Woman drives SUV into bakery
Patron pinned between SUV and counter. Three taken to hospital, but none of
the injuries were life- threatening, police say.
By Jackson Bell, News-Press and Leader
SOUTHEAST GLENDALE — A 30-year-old woman smashed her SUV through the Red
Ribbon BakeShop Monday afternoon, pinning one of the customers against the
counter, police and witnesses said.
At about 3 p.m., a motorist, whose name was not released, drove her gray
Toyota 4Runner over the sidewalk and into the Filipino bakery on East
Colorado Street, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.
The driver of the SUV told police and patrons that she hit the accelerator
instead of the brake by mistake as she pulled into the parking lot, Lorenz
said.
Glendale paramedics rushed two patrons — a 40-year-old woman and
13-year-old girl — to local hospitals, Lorenz said. An employee was also
taken to a hospital. None of the injuries were life-threatening, he said.
The 40-year-old suffered two broken legs, police said.
Teresa Moody had stopped by the Red Ribbon Bake Shop Monday afternoon for a
quick snack in between running errands. She set her belongings on a table by
the window and was waiting at the counter for her order when she heard a
loud crash, followed by a woman’s screams.
She turned to see an SUV had crashed through the window and had pinned a
woman to the counter with the table Moody had planned to sit at.
“I could have been runover by the SUV,” Moody said. “I was shaking and
started saying, ‘Oh my God.’ Lucky, there were only a few of us at the
store. The place is usually packed.”
Ofik Abarmyan was trimming a client’s hair at California Cuts, a business in
the same strip mall, when she heard the crash. When Abarmyan looked to see
what happened, she said the driver was standing by her SUV, in a state of
shock and unable to speak. The 40-year-old victim, she said, was wedged in
the counter and unable to free herself.
The teenage girl had cuts on her legs and the floor was bloody from all the
glass cuts, she said.
“I tried to give the little girl water, but she was so shaken up that she
couldn’t even drink it,” Abarmyan said.
The business next door, Lilac Florist, had damage to the window and
refrigerators on the wall next to Red Ribbon, owner Sona Nazaryan said. The
accident marks the third time in 14 years a car has crashed into the strip
mall, Nazaryan said.
“I’d like to see some barriers put up,” she said. “It would be safer for us
and the customers.”
* JACKSON BELL covers public safety and courts. He may be reached at (818)
637-3232 or [email protected].