83-year-old woman crashes into farm store, runs over employee
By Drew Scofield , Jessi Schultz
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AVON, Ohio (WEWS) — A 19-year-old Pickering Hill Farm employee in Avon is recovering after an elderly woman crashed into a fruit display full of melons and then ran him over.
It happened Wednesday afternoon at the farm store located at 35669 Detroit Road.
According to Avon Police, officers responded after the 83-year-old driver drove through the fruit display and struck the employee. The car stopped after it partially entered the store and hit a pole.
The woman wasn’t injured, and the employee was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Avon Police Sgt. George Ruple said it appeared to have been an accident.
“Our investigation has shown that she mistakenly pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal,” Ruple said. “We get a lot of incidents where driver inattention occurs. Not so much, specifically, just to elderly drivers. It can occur to anybody. But in this case, it does appear that age may have played a role in the crash.”
Jay Pickering, the owner of Pickering Hill Farm, said the employee is out of the hospital and is recovering from his injuries. But he said it was a shocking and scary incident and will be installing concrete barriers in front of the store.
“Obviously, we didn’t expect it, but now that it has happened, we are going to make sure that it’s safe here for the employees, customers and our families,” Pickering said.
Ruple said the 83-year-old driver was cited for a minor misdemeanor of reasonable control.
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