A man crashed his car into a River Forest salon mid-day Friday, destroying the front of the shop. There were no serious injuries reported.
Leroy Warshawsky of Oak Brook, 77, was driving the black Honda Accord that crashed into James Anthony Salon and Day Spa at the corner of Lake Street and Lathrop Avenue just after noon.
River Forest police Sgt. Mike Thornley said Warshawsky was driving westbound on Lake Street and rear-ended a woman’s Mini Cooper in the intersection’s left turn lane, then careened through the intersection to smash into the front of the salon.
Warshawsky told police that his leg fell asleep while it was on the accelerator.
No one was seriously injured, Thornley said, though Warshawsky was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in an ambulance as a precaution. Warshawsky was ticketed at Loyola for failing to reduce speed to avoid an accident.
His car, however, appeared to be totaled. It had a large dent in its grill, and it had clearly bent a large metal support pole in the storefront.
The woman whom Warshawsy rear-ended at the intersection appeared to be fine, and there were only scuff marks on her car’s bumper. That woman declined to be interviewed further.
Jacie Owens, a nail technician at the salon, said she was giving a pedicure just a few feet away when the car crashed through the window.
“It was like a movie,” she said. “It was so loud — I thought the speakers were blown.”
Thornley said the police department thought only traffic tickets would be issued to the man, as in any other accident.
James Anthony’s building, on the corner of Lake and Lathrop, has been targeted by the village for redevelopment. A plan for that block to be razed and rebuilt — possibly with some cash from the village — is expected to come before the village board before the end of 2010.
