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Car crashes through Wal-Mart door, injures 6

Ethan Forman
Published: June 2, 2009

DANVERS | A car crashed through the front door at Wal-Mart this morning, landing about 40 feet inside the store and hitting a young child and her mother.

In all, six people were taken to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.

The girl, who's about 1, and her mother, 25, both received head injuries, according to police and were taken to North Shore Children's Hospital and Salem Hospital, respectively. The baby was later taken by helicopter to a Boston hospital. Her condition was not available. Witnesses said they saw the girl bleeding from her head.

A 90-year-old passenger in the car was taken to Lahey Clinic. Her husband, the driver, 93, refused treatment, police said.

Three other people were treated for chest pain, including a store employee who suffered a heart attack, and were taken to Beverly Hospital.

The 1998 Toyota Camry slipped between two big, red pillars roughly 6 feet apart in front of the store and smashed through the glass exit doors, according to Danvers police Sgt. Robert Bettencourt and Capt. Ed Plamowski. The car had stopped at a stop sign in front of the exit, apparently looking for a handicap parking space, Bettencourt said. Then it accelerated.

A witness who was outside described the scene.

"It sounded to me like the guy was going 40 miles per hour, it was that revved up," said Steve Mahan of Beverly. "It sounded like he had a cinder block on the gas pedal."

Witnesses said they thought a bomb had gone off when the car hit the store.

The accident occurred shortly before 10 a.m. at the Route 114 store. The store has been shut down and the building inspector is on the scene.

An accident reconstruction team is investigating the cause.

For more, please see Wednesday's Salem News.

Photos

Ethan Forman/Staff Photo

A 1998 Toyota Camry crashed through the front doors of the Wal-Mart on Route 114 at 9:59 a.m., injuring a mother and her baby, who was in a carriage inside the store.