1 Dead, 2 Injured After Customer Crashes Into California Toyota Dealership

A person is dead and two others have been left injured after a 2017 Toyota RAV4 crashed into the service area of Hamer Toyota in Mission Hills, California on August 9th. According to the Automotive News, bystanders were able to free the pinned woman, and they attempted to revive her, but she later died from her injuries.

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The elderly driver was reportedly a customer at the dealership who lost control of the crossover which then “crashed through a glass-enclosed reception area and came to rest against a distant cinder block wall well within the business,” according to the Los Angles Fire Department. A preliminary investigation suggests the driver may have accidentally depressed the accelerator instead of the brake.

The crash reportedly dragged the 56-year-old woman over 20 feet. An off-duty nurse then tended to the “pulseless and not-breathing woman” before she was transported to a local hospital where she was later pronounced dead. The general sales manager at the dealership told AutoNews that bystanders freed the woman from under the RAV4 using jacks.

LAFD: One Dead, Two Injured in Vehicle Collision at Mission Hills Auto Dealership | August 9, 2023

“It was amazing how everyone just chipped in and went in there and just started trying to help,” he told the outlet.

He went on to say that the incident left people present at the dealership “shocked and scared.”

Automotive News says the other two victims were both employees. One was a 23-year-old man who suffered an arm laceration, and the other was a 35-year-old man who had head and foot injuries. They were both taken to the hospital but have since been released.

The driver was uninformed, according to the outlet, and a source at the scene said they were “in a daze” after the crash.

The store ended up closing for the rest of the day, but somehow it reopened the next morning. Right now, the fire department says early evidence suggests the incident was an accident, but the Los Angeles Police Department’s investigation is reportedly ongoing.