Car crashes into 7/ Eleven days after similar accident

VERNON – Vehicles charging through storefronts has become a bit of a trend in the North Okanagan.

Around 6 a.m. this morning, a car crashed through glass into the 7-Eleven on 27 Street in Vernon. The vehicle hurdled over concrete barriers and the sidewalk, coming to a stop inside the store.

RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says fortunately the 63-year-old driver and people inside the store at the time are all uninjured. A customer had entered the store just prior to the accident, narrowly escaping the line of fire.

The driver tells police she drove into the parking lot, intending to park in front of the store, but hit an icy patch, and despite hitting the brakes, crashed through the front wall.

“Because of the extensive damage to the vehicle and the store, our officers are looking at perhaps she may have hit the wrong pedal,” Molendyk says.

Less than a week ago, a similar incident occurred in Armstrong. An 80-something man with a prosthetic leg drove right into an electronics store. Luckily, none of the four people inside the store at the time were injured. The driver has been charged under the motor vehicle act for driving without due care and attention, and will have to take a driving test before getting back behind the wheel.

A police investigation into the exact circumstances of the 7/ Eleven incident is ongoing.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infotelenws.ca, call (250)309-5230 or tweet @charhelston.

—This story was edited at 12:10 p.m. to include further information about the accident.