Vehicle crashes into AHA building
Trending
A car whose driver was trying to turn left off of 27th Street near the Van Zandt VA Medical center onto Pleasant Valley Boulevard instead crashed into the front of the Altoona Housing Authority's administration building Monday evening.
The female driver was removed from the car by firefighters using extrication tools and taken to the hospital by ambulance, according to Fire Chief Adam Free -- although she was ultimately determined not to be injured, according to city police.
"She came off the boulevard and ended up in our building," authority Executive Director Cheryl Johns said Tuesday. "It was a helluva mess."
After leaving 27th Street, the car crossed the boulevard diagonally, jumped a curb, went down a shallow grass embankment, crossed a corner of the parking lot, jumped another curb at the edge of a small yard, passed to the right of a flagpole and hit the wall.
The crash shoved in the exterior brick and interior drywall in a short hallway to the left of the front doors and in part of the office of the authority's executive secretary, a little farther left, according to Johns.
Officials from the city Police Department and the city Fire Department who spoke to the Mirror couldn't say Tuesday why the driver lost control.
The accident won't affect authority operations, although executive secretary Kim Palmer will need to relocate within the building when workers start repairs, Johns said.
Adjustors for the authority's insurance company were on scene Tuesday.
The insurance company plans to "take care of it" for the authority, then recoup the loss from the driver's insurance company, Johns said.
Authority maintenance workers boarded up the hole in the wall Monday evening to secure the building, Johns said.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.