KTRK-13’s Deborah Wrigley checks in on some mayhem in southwest Houston:
A southwest Houston parking lot was the unlikely scene of a multi-car pile-up Thursday morning. The chain reaction accident happened in a lot of the HCA West Houston Medical Center.
Car after car after car was left smashed, torn and dented. Eight were damaged in all. It started with a Toyota Camry. Police say an 84-year-old driver hit the gas instead of the brake.
“I’m thinking he was probably doing at least 45 to 50 (mph), because the last car he hit — it smashed it,” said HPD Officer Neal Sapre. “After he hit the first sign he just continued to accelerate.”
Eyewitness Nitih Mehta said, “There was so much power to the car. I mean, he was probably& The accelerator was pushed all the way (to the floor). He just flew over the median. There was a lady here. She was in another car. She just saved herself.”
Remarkably, no one was hurt, including the driver, whose car eventually landed atop three parked cars.
“I saw when they pulled him out. He was an older guy. He got out with his cane and walked over to the ambulance,” recalled medical technician Wayne Wilford.
The casualties are the vehicles themselves. People were inconvenienced and had to find rides home from work. But it was offset by the thought of what might have been.
He should have claimed it was Sudden Acceleration Syndrome.