81-year-old woman loses control of vehicle, crashes into LongHorn Steakhouse in McCandless
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — It was a wild scene just after 1 p.m. Tuesday when an 81-year-old driver crashed into the LongHorn Steakhouse in the McCandless Crossing shopping center on Covenant Road.
According to police, an 81-year-old woman hit the rear end of a pickup truck with someone inside and didn't stop.
She continued in her Hyundai Tucson, went over a curb, through some landscaping, and barreled through the vestibule - hitting a female employee who was cleaning the windows, and trapped her underneath a tire.
"Firefighters were able to get spreaders underneath the vehicle, lift the vehicle up, and get the patient out from underneath the car," said Peebles Assistant Fire Chief Andrew Ferrante. "Ross, West View, Highland and Ingomar fire departments were able to extricate the other patient out of the passenger side through the doors and we're shoring up the vestibule so it doesn't collapse when they pull the car back out."
Both women were taken to the hospital in stable condition and it's unclear what caused the driver to lose control.
"They are both mild-to-moderate injuries, both currently being treated at local hospitals," Ferrante explained. "It could've been worse, we are happy it wasn't, [we] had a great response from our fire department and mutual aid. We quickly extricated those patients."
Meanwhile, police were able to evacuate the patrons inside the restaurant at the time of the crash.
"I'm just happy it didn't collapse on anybody in there, I don't know how she didn't hit someone," said Kathrine Calabrace Sarrcco. "She hit a truck or something and went into the thing - was she tramping on the brake and stomped on the gas? We really don't know."
Police said they have not talked to the driver of the Hyundai yet and the person inside the truck that was hit was not hurt.
As for the restaurant, expectedly, it is now closed.
"We are saddened this incident resulted in the injury of one of our team members and sincerely appreciate the quick response from the local authorities," a spokesperson for LongHorn Steakhouse said. "We are immensely grateful that her injuries are not life threatening and are doing everything we can to help in her recovery."