Several people were injured after two SUVs crashed into a Goodwill in Placentia while the second-hand shop was open Tuesday afternoon.
Authorities responded to the scene at 1101 E. Imperial Highway, where one of the large vehicles had rear-ended another, around 4:12 p.m.
— Placentia Police (@placentiapolice) October 10, 2018
Placentia police said six people were injured, among them five occupants of the vehicles involved and one person who was shopping in the store. Police had originally said more shoppers were injured, but later revised their count.
All six sustained only minor injures, but one was taken to a local hospital, officials said.
David Collins said he was driving with his 88-year-old mother when she accidentally drove her white Chevy Suburban into a parked GMC Yukon, causing both SUVs to end up inside the store.
“She went to park in a parking space and her foot slipped off the brake and onto the gas — and it was Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride from there,” he said.
Collins eventually managed to put the car in park and turn it off from the passenger’s seat, he said.
He added that his mother was rushed to a trauma center following the incident.
Cherie McLeish said she was right by the windows when the cars slammed through and “very grateful to be alive tonight.”
“I just fled for my life, and I felt everything crushing down,” she said. “I could hear the glass crashing. I was scared to death, I thought I was going to die.”
David Bailey, who was also inside shopping at the time, said those in the store could hardly believe what was unfolding.
“It was kind of slow,” he told KTLA. “You heard the crashing cars and thought that was the end of it, then all of a sudden the car got shoved through the window, then another car came in after that.”
Workers were seen boarding up the store’s windows late Tuesday night. It was not immediately known whether it would reopen Wednesday.
KTLA’s Erika Martin contributed to this report.
