A bizarre crash has sent a woman to hospital and left a driver with a lot of explaining to do. But this accident didn't happen on the street or in traffic. Instead, it started out in a parking lot and ended in the side of a woman's house.
The man behind the wheel of a Jeep Grand Cherokee slammed full speed into the wall of a home at
349 Driftwood Ave. in the Jane-Finch area just before 11am. The homeowner was in the kitchen at the time making lunch, when she was suddenly knocked flat by the impact of the vehicle, which cracked the brick wall of the structure and sent her and her stove flying.
She suffered a sore back and was taken to hospital to be checked out.
So how did it happen? The driver told police he was pulling out of a parking lot and thought he'd hit the brake. But when his foot pushed the accelerator instead, the SUV picked up speed, became airborne, went down an embankment, tore through a cedar hedge, ripped open a wire fence and then slammed head on into the wall.
The air bag deployed and the motorist was able to walk away from the scene and waited for cops to arrive. A language barrier prevented them from getting the whole story until an interpreter was brought in.
It's believed both the driver and the victim will be O.K.
Two roofers were working on a nearby home and had a bird's eye view. "We were right over there," points Andre Kovtun to where he was watching the action unfold. "Slammed into the building ... You can see the smoke coming from his tires until the car shut down."
He remembers a dazed man coming out of the vehicle. "He was a little bit shaky but he went over there to pick up his nephew," he recalls.
Officers administered a roadside breath check, which he failed. He was taken to 32 Division for a full breathalyzer and impaired driving charges are expected to be laid against him when cops finish processing the papers.
Damage to the car and the home is extensive.