Update: Car crashes into Admiral frame shop

ORIGINAL 8:48 AM REPORT: Thanks to Lory for the photo – if you look closely at the storefront, you’ll see the back of the car that crashed into Museum Quality Framing in Admiral early this morning. The 911 log lists a “motor-vehicle accident” at that address at 6:42 am – no indication of serious injuries – obviously the store wouldn’t have been open at that hour, either. Via Twitter, @seattledriver sent a drive-by photo of the damage; we’ll be heading there for a followup this morning.

(photo substituted at 12:24 pm for iPhone photo we’d posted three hours earlier)
9:40 AM UPDATE: We just talked with the store’s proprietor, Robert, at the scene. He says police told him a driver was turning northbound onto California from Admiral when she hit the gas instead of the brakes, went over the curb and into his store. (No damage is visible to the storefronts on either side.) He confirms nobody was hurt. The entire front of the store – glass and doors – is gone, and a repair person is already there working on it, though the insurance adjuster hasn’t even arrived yet. Robert wanted to stress that while some of his framing stock is damaged, as are store fixtures inside, since the car went so far into the store, the customers’ art is all OK. He has no idea yet how long he’ll be closed.

(photo added 12:28 pm)

21 Replies to "Update: Car crashes into Admiral frame shop"

  • ann May 15, 2010 (8:56 am)

    Some had to work hard to get just the right angle for that to happen. Good to hear no one was hurt!

  • brian May 15, 2010 (9:13 am)

    The girls at Zatz said that the lady who was driving the car was unhurt and actually went in to work after the accident.

  • gtothen May 15, 2010 (9:59 am)

    Does anybody else think this sounds a little odd or is it just me? It just doesn’t seem to add up. Maybe I have to run by & see it in person – guess its bagels for breakfast!

  • I. Ponder May 15, 2010 (10:05 am)

    Driver pleads not guilty. Says “I was framed!”.

    SORRY! Couldn’t help it.

  • Jo May 15, 2010 (10:25 am)

    Wow… I want to know how she managed to miss both the tree and the bike rack in front of the store, at any angle? This is some crazy driving.

  • Todd_ May 15, 2010 (10:37 am)

    Never a dull moment these days in WS.

  • scott May 15, 2010 (10:58 am)

    The drive thru is on the next block……..

  • Bob Loblaw May 15, 2010 (12:19 pm)

    @I. Ponder — Nice one!!

  • Rasmus May 15, 2010 (12:35 pm)

    Maybe we’ll finally have a local segment on World’s Dumbest Drivers!

  • MB May 15, 2010 (1:02 pm)

    I don’t get it…as said above, how the hell did she not take out the tree and/or the bike rack?? It looks like you would have had to be trying really hard to get in there just right. Bizarre!

  • Born To Be Mild May 15, 2010 (1:06 pm)

    When an accident occurs because the driver pushes the wrong pedal, they should have their automatic transmission taken away. I don’t think anyone who drives a manual transmission gets confused about which pedal is which. A little bit of coordination should be required for a driver’s license.

  • I. Ponder May 15, 2010 (1:46 pm)

    Driver runs over pedestrian and says “I thought it was a garbage can”.

    Right to drive is more dangerous than the right to bear arms. Even great-grandma’s doin’ it!

  • GenHillOne May 15, 2010 (1:53 pm)

    She was going NORTHbound…huh??? I can barely see how it could have happened southbound!

    • WSB May 15, 2010 (1:57 pm)

      Again, this is what the proprietor said police told him. We were standing right in front of his store talking to him – keep in mind, he was pretty rattled, it had been just a couple hours – and a bus was steps away against the curb as we stood there talking, and he was gesturing at the reported path. There is some item on the sidewalk that was broken off and it made perfect sense while we were standing there. But all we can do is relate to you all the story we were told – we weren’t there when it happened (nor was he) – TR

  • old timer May 15, 2010 (2:02 pm)

    Maybe the driver was on the phone when it happened.

  • nmb May 15, 2010 (3:19 pm)

    Wow. An accident like that with no other vehicle or second party involved spells N-E-G-L-L-I-G-E-N-C-E to me. Not paying attention, too tired, too drunk, out of control. . .. any one of those ‘excuses’ makes me shudder to share the road with people sometimes.

    Hope the driver gets a healthy legal reminder of their folly/incompetence, and the store owner gets an adequate insurance payment. :/

  • lena May 15, 2010 (3:59 pm)

    It’s hard to tell from the photo but walking by today it appears she drove in from the right side of the bike rack. If she would have been taking a right turn from Admiral to Cal there is just enough space to the right side of the bike rack for her to drive in and end up in the middle of the store. From the photo it looks impossible.

    Still hard to believe that she could end up not being able to stop in time.

  • Noelle May 15, 2010 (8:38 pm)

    Sad for the frame shop. They are really nice there. Glad no one was hurt! This afternoon the clean up effort blocked part of the Metro Bus stop. The 55 Bus I was on could not get entirely out of the intersection.

  • Mookie May 16, 2010 (6:41 pm)

    C’mon people – no one’s asked if it was a Toyota yet??!

  • Jill Loblaw May 18, 2010 (7:28 am)

    Mookie,
    it had crossed my mind. :-)

  • Kevin May 18, 2010 (1:34 pm)

    And thus the first drive-thru frame shop was born.

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