Car slams into building after leaving car wash

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

An elderly woman accidentally crashed her Cadillac Fleetwood into a building near Chapala and Canon Perdido streets Wednesday afternoon after leaving a nearby car wash moments earlier, authorities said.
Fire officials arrived on the scene to find the vehicle with its front end crumpled and the building, at 115 W. Canon Perdido St., with minimal damage. Nobody was injured in the incident.

City Fire Capt. Chris Auringer said the woman left Santa Barbara Hand Car Wash at around 4:20 p.m. with a freshly scrubbed car.
“She was going to press the brake pedal and accidentally hit the gas,” Capt. Auringer said.
The Cadillac shot across the roadway and squeezed between two cars parked along the opposite side of the street, narrowly missing both, before slamming into the building.
“The car wash guy said she just took off like a rocket,” City Fire Battalion Chief John Ahlman said.
Fire officials noted the Cadillac’s airbags did not deploy, despite the considerable front-end collision. Firefighters also sprinkled an absorbent material along the gutter to clean up a small amount of spilled radiator fluid.