Errant Car Crashes into Elk Grove Store

Deanne Ireland and her staff at Nina’s Flowers & Gifts were busily arranging bouquets when a white Honda sedan crashed into the front of the store at 8517 Elk Grove Blvd. about 12:30 p.m. today.

Fire department officials said a woman was pulling her car into a parking space just outside the flower shop, when the woman said she apparently pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake. The car jumped the curb, went over a sidewalk and rammed the storefront, smashing glass, taking out the shop’s door and damaging the adjacent Golden 1 ATM.

The woman, who officials did not identify, then backed the car up, hitting another vehicle in the parking lot, said Craig Herscowitz, Cosumnes Fire Department battalion chief.

There were no injuries, Herscowitz said.

Ireland said it’s lucky no one was standing at the front of the business, or at the ATM.

“It scared us to death,” said Ireland, who owns the 25-year-old business in a shopping center just east of Highway 99. She said workers were filling orders in the back area of the shop at the time of the collision.

“I had my three-year-old granddaughter in the store with us," she said. "It made a very loud noise and a big mess. There was glass everywhere.”

Ireland said the shop is normally closed on Sunday, and she plans to remain open beginning Monday until repairs are complete. She asks that customers use the back door to the business during construction.

"Oh well, we needed a new door, I guess," Ireland said, examining the glass shards and ruined drywall at the entrance of the store. "That one was 25 years old."