Car crashes through Rossland drug store

A car crashed through the front window of the Alpine Drug Mart on Columbia Avenue in Rossland on Friday afternoon.

The incident occurred around 3 p.m., just two doors down from where a fire damaged Clansey’s and RossVegas in May.

The driver was a 76-year-old male, according to Cpl. Darryl Orr of the Trail RCMP.

“Looks like [he] stepped on the gas instead of the brake when he was parking in front of the pharmacy,” he said.

Mike Williams happened to be across the street at the time and saw what happened.

“I watched [the driver] driving down the street and then he was signalling to pull into park here in front of the drug store. Then when he was starting to turn in, he, I guess, stepped on the gas pedal instead of the brake, clipped the front end of a green Toyota Tacoma that was parked and then hit the curb,” he says. “And when he hit the curb I watched the front end of his truck jump up in the air and I saw his hands fly up in the air trying to grab the steering wheel, and he stepped on the gas a little harder and then went right into the front of the drug store.”

Luckily no one was on the sidewalk, but there were two women in the store by the point of entry.

There was “an employee who was behind the counter and a customer who was in front of the counter,” explains Williams. “The employee was taken by ambulance. The customer was not hurt badly. She said she was fine.”

According to Orr, one woman was treated on the scene while the other was taken to the hospital and none of the injuries were life-threatening.

“But definite soft tissue injuries for both,” said Orr.

“That vehicle lunged through there pretty good. They’re lucky they didn’t have maybe even more serious injuries. … Especially the one lady that was struck was struck pretty good there, so she’s lucky she’s alive,” he added.

Those involved also happened to be lucky in that there were first responders nearby.

Rossland Firefighters were on Columbia Avenue doing a fundraiser at the time of the accident and were able to respond very quickly.

Orr said that the driver was issued a ticket for driving without due care under the Motor Vehicle Act.

Following the accident, the Alpine Drug Mart was only open for prescriptions on Saturday, but as of Monday was once again open for business.