Update: Car crashes into Westwood Village Bank of America, 2 hurt

ORIGINAL 11:48 AM REPORT OF “MAJOR HEAVY RESCUE”: We are on the way. We have two reports that a car has crashed into a bank. More from the scene shortly. 11:54 AM UPDATE: We’re there – a car has crashed into the Westwood Village Bank of America. 11:59 AM UPDATE: Looks like NO major injuries, so far. Unofficial word is that this was an accident, not something deliberate. Here’s another of our cameraphone photos from the scene:

12:08 PM UPDATE: Seattle Fire spokesperson Dana Vander Houwen has given a quick briefing at the scene. She says two people are being taken to the hospital to be checked out – one, a customer who was at the ATM and dove out of the way – another, a bank worker. Injuries are NOT believed to be major. As for the driver, no injuries reported at this point. The car already has been backed out of the bank:

12:28 PM UPDATE: In case you were wondering – the bank IS closed TFN because of this. (We’ll check back again later.) 12:53 PM: A couple photos from Christopher Boffoli – firefighters, and photojournalists, in action:

ADDED 2:37 PM: Video from Christopher, with what Vander Houwen told us at the scene:

34 Replies to "Update: Car crashes into Westwood Village Bank of America, 2 hurt"

  • dave April 1, 2010 (11:55 am)

    Wow, news choppers will be seen shortly, because there really is nothing more exciting when Cars meet buildings. A true American love story! I do hope the person gets home safely.

  • RobertSeattle April 1, 2010 (11:56 am)

    Perfect timing for Noon News hour….

  • Essex April 1, 2010 (11:58 am)

    How do you crash into that?! I can’t wait for pictures of this.

  • HelperMonkey April 1, 2010 (11:58 am)

    silly car. the drive thru is on the OTHER side of the building.
    .
    / hope everyone’s ok..

  • Essex April 1, 2010 (11:59 am)

    WOW. Hope everyone inside is ok.

  • RobertSeattle April 1, 2010 (12:02 pm)

    Doesn’t look like a Toyota…

  • AlkiChicken April 1, 2010 (12:03 pm)

    April Fools joke gone horribly wrong.

  • Essex April 1, 2010 (12:03 pm)

    HAHA! Nice, Robert!

  • sophista-tiki April 1, 2010 (12:05 pm)

    I just walked around the corner from my house to see. Looks like maybe it was a senior moment. Forward instead of reverse. The car is parked squarely in the front window where the ATM is. ( well, WAS)

  • sophista-tiki April 1, 2010 (12:06 pm)

    DOH ! Now there’s the picture. When I started my previous post the pic wasn’t there yet!

  • rob April 1, 2010 (12:18 pm)

    I saw a lady drive into a dry cleaning place like that once. What happened was she got in, started the car, and accidentally pit it in drive instead if reverse. The wheels were up against the curb so when she put it in drive and pushed the pedal nothing happened. Instead if realizing something was wrong, she just pushed the pedal harder. When the engine finally revved enough to make the car climb up over the curb, it lurched forward after the curb was no longer in the way and went right through the front wall of the dry cleaners. It was a brick walk so there was a real mess. No idea if that is what happened here, but from the photos above I would be surprised if it wasn’t.

  • dave April 1, 2010 (12:18 pm)

    News choppers have been hovering for 15 min. Must be a lot more action than just a car v. building. This is so intriguing!

    • WSB April 1, 2010 (12:25 pm)

      No, Dave, we’ve been to the scene. It’s just a car vs. building. They’re hovering because they have a show on the air and the producer might decide to go back to them … Rob, although neither one of us are major car experts, Patrick thought it was a Camry.

  • rob April 1, 2010 (12:21 pm)

    Oh , I’m not up on my cars anymore, but that does kinda look like a Toyota camry or a Lexus.

  • miws April 1, 2010 (12:22 pm)

    Hope everyone is okay.

    .

    I saw one of the SFD SUV’s (Battalion Chief?) go zipping by, lights and siren, in the Thriftway block of California early on in the call, so figured it was something major, but hadn’t noticed any other sirens. Saw what it was, after checking the SFD Response Log.

    .

    Checked the WSB Twitter box thingy, but nothing at that time. Normally, in such a situation, I would have sent off an E-mail, but was busy composing a Forum thread.

    .

    Mike

  • here today April 1, 2010 (12:31 pm)

    That bank gets a lot of drama.

  • dave April 1, 2010 (12:32 pm)

    Thanks for the clarification WSB, but I have one question? You’ve worked in TV news what is the allure with cars v. buildings stories? I just don’t get it. We could have ax murderers on the loose, but if a car hits a building it’s instant news? I would love to have a professional perspective on this.

  • Left Turner April 1, 2010 (12:34 pm)

    Toyota Camry – beige, even. OMG the car did it…(or someone had a senior moment). I was just mentioning to my wife this morning how Toyota had been out of the news for a little while ;)

  • beaglenut April 1, 2010 (12:56 pm)

    How do these people get drivers licenses???

  • Left Turner April 1, 2010 (1:09 pm)

    Only have to pass once, beaglenut

  • LMA April 1, 2010 (1:22 pm)

    I was just there on my lunch brake with my son Patrick Wow , didn’t look like anyone got hurt. And it is spring brake for the Kidos

  • rob April 1, 2010 (1:38 pm)

    Stopped at the new liquor store (very nice place, but their scotch selection is just the mainstream stuff) and the car was still sitting in the parking lot. It is indeed a Camry. Also, read on the PI that the driver was 86 years old, but I don’t think its fair for people to assume driving at that age was the problem without more details about what actually happened. Lots of people get in car accidents, thankfully this one turned out to be pretty minor.

  • beaglenut April 1, 2010 (1:57 pm)

    Only in America do we refer to plowing a car through a building as a “pretty minor” accident.

  • Lauren April 1, 2010 (1:57 pm)

    I must admit, when I first saw the headline i thought this was an April Fool’s. Hope everyone is okay, especially the poor person who was at the ATM!

  • alki_2008 April 1, 2010 (2:13 pm)

    It’s not uncommon that a senior citizen drives forward (instead of reverse) into a building, or even a crowd of people (ie, Santa Monica CA farmer’s market a few years back had fatalities).

    Such things happen almost everyday somewhere in this country, whether from stepping on accelerator instead of brake or being in drive instead of reverse or the less likely cases when people have heart attacks or seizures while behind the wheel. :(

  • rob April 1, 2010 (2:18 pm)

    Only in America do we refer to breaking a couple windows as “plowing through a building”.

  • beaglenut April 1, 2010 (2:22 pm)

    LOL!

  • wsmich April 1, 2010 (2:44 pm)

    Is that a toyota camry/corolla I see?

    • WSB April 1, 2010 (2:53 pm)

      Yes, it’s a Camry.

  • Cheryl April 1, 2010 (3:00 pm)

    WTH? Whoa. That’s just retarded. Or drunk.
    (shaking head)

  • Baba April 1, 2010 (3:44 pm)

    I hope the driver was not a friend of Joseph Stack (TX).

  • Cheryl April 1, 2010 (3:55 pm)

    And oops, just realized I need to go to the bank. Boo, now I have to drive to the BofA at the Junction. (yes, I’m a lazy girl!).

  • Amanda April 1, 2010 (5:45 pm)

    Cheryl, you could go to the one on 17th just south of Roxbury ;)

  • LyndaB April 1, 2010 (11:36 pm)

    funny, LMA. you typed in ‘brake’ for ‘lunch break’ and ‘spring break’. i guess ‘brake’ is appropriate for the topic at hand. :D

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