SUV crashes into Pacific Grove restaurant, injuring two

Pacific Grove police said a 70-year-old woman didn’t stop as she collided with an oncoming car, a stop sign and eventually a local restaurant; all while in reverse.

“It was out of control,” said Tim Wilson who said he saw the whole thing. “It all happened within about one to two seconds.”

On a day Wilson was setting up for the Pacific Grove Farmer’s Market, he saw what police said was the woman who reversed from a parking spot on Lighthouse Avenue traveling nearly 40 miles per hour all the way into the Victorian Corner Restaurant.

“I kind of hate that when people say it looks like something out of movie because they obviously haven’t been through something real,” said Wilson. “I’ve been through accidents in my life and I know how quickly things happen.”

That’s not the only thing this woman hit, police said she clipped an coming vehicle sending that person to the hospital with minor injuries. She then ripped a stop sign clean off its post.

One member of the Aliotti family, who owns the restaurant, also went to the hospital with minor injuries.

The place that has been serving breakfast, lunch and dinner since 1977 remained closed Monday.

Police said they are unsure about what caused this woman to reverse like she did, but what is clear is that owners of the restaurant said before they can reopen they need a permit from the city to make sure the board-up job they did is safe for customers.

While Monterey Fire and Pacific Grove police were responding to this incident, another serious accident occurred on Sunset Drive. Crews were dispatched to the area near Pacific Grove High School for reports of a 10-year-old girl struck by a car. The girl was crossing the street toward the high school when she was struck by a car driven westbound on Sunset Drive. Police said the Pacific Grove Middle School student was not crossing in the crosswalk. She was air-lifted to a Bay Area hospital for treatment, where her condition was not immediately known. That accident is under investigation.