Police say a woman accidentally accelerated instead of braking and crashed into seven parked cars, leaving three people injured, in the parking lot of Meijer in Round Lake Beach Sunday afternoon.
The Round Lake Beach Police Department and Greater Round Lake Fire Protection District responded around 4 p.m. Sunday to Meijer, 750 East Rollins Road in Round Lake Beach, for a crash involving multiple vehicles and injuries.
Round Lake Beach Deputy Police Chief Tim Schuster said preliminary information shows a female driver was traveling through the parking lot when she mistakenly pressed the accelerator instead of the brake.
A total of seven parked cars were struck.
The crash included a Ford Excursion SUV, Dodge Caravan minivan, Chevrolet Equinox SUV, Chevrolet Malibu sedan, Toyota RAV4 SUV, Hyundai Sonata sedan, Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck and a MINI Cooper, a Lake & McHenry County Scanner reporter saw at the scene.
It’s unclear which car the woman was driving.
The Excursion, Caravan and Silverado appeared to sustain the heavier damage than the other vehicles involved.
Three people suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Schuster said.
Paramedics transported two of them to area hospitals for further medical evaluation.
Flatbed tow trucks from Dave’s Transmission towed four of the vehicles from the scene.
The other three vehicles appeared drivable, albeit damaged.
Witnesses on Facebook reported the driver was an elderly woman.
“I was just walking to my car. Thankfully parked just out of the way. Looks like a few other cars were damaged though. Not just 2,” a woman said on Facebook.
“My daughter and I were a few cars away from being hit… that was absolutely terrifying. It looked like an old woman and it was way more than 2 cars that she hit,” another woman said.
The crash left debris scattered across multiple aisles, at least one cart corral damaged and several parking lot signs destroyed.
Police officers, firefighters, employees and tow truck operators worked together to clean up the crash.
Officers were seen working with store management to obtain surveillance video of the crash.
The crash remains under investigation by the Round Lake Beach Police Department.
No citations have been issued as of Monday evening, Schuster added.