Woman hits gas instead of brake, sends car careening over embankment, officials say

A woman was somehow unhurt Friday afternoon after her car went down an embankment when she hit the gas pedal instead of the brake after a fender-bender in Parkland, according to Central Pierce Fire & Rescue.

The crash happened about 2:15 p.m. on 113th Street South just west of Pacific Avenue South, where the initial collision occurred, Central Pierce spokesman Brian Levings said.

The woman did have to be extricated from her vehicle, which was unsteadily perched against the carport. The carport collapsed onto a car parked beneath it.

Nadine Brewster said she was driving down 112th Street South when the woman sideswiped her minivan. The woman took a long time to get out of her car, so Brewster walked over to meet with her to exchange insurance information.

That’s when the woman hit Brewster’s van again, running into the back of it.

“I screamed at her and told her, ‘Stop. Put the car in park. Stop, I have children in the car,’” Brewster said. “She said, ‘I can’t, I can’t.’”

The woman’s car scraped by the van and went past a parking lot, then accelerated over the embankment.

“It’s almost like she went to hit the brake but she hit the gas instead,” Brewster said, “and she just darted right over the edge and down the cliff.”

Dante Batiste heard it all happen from inside the house.

“I was downstairs with my son and I heard a big boom, crash, and my sister came and got me,” Batiste said. “I looked over and the car was through our carport and on top of my brother-in-law’s car.”

She was able to walk to the ambulance and was taken to St. Clare Hospital in Lakewood for observation.

This story was originally published August 4, 2017 at 4:57 PM with the headline "Woman hits gas instead of brake, sends car careening over embankment, officials say."