Nobody was injured, although a clerk behind the counter was shaken up, when a Ford Expedition driven by an elderly man crashed through a plate glass window next to the entrance of 7-Eleven, 515 Madison St. in Oak Park on Friday morning.
Glass and bricks from the wall of the store littered the area just in front of the counter where lottery ticket machines are located. Customers can often be found lined up at the machines, but no one was present when the SUV crashed through the window.
Praveen Nemeli was standing behind the counter at about 9:30 a.m. when he heard a crash and saw the SUV surging toward him.
“I was looking to run, but he applied the brakes and then I was OK,” said Nemeli. “I almost got hit.”
Nemeli said that the driver of the SUV believed he was hitting the brake, but stepped on the accelerator instead.
The driver of the SUV is reportedly a regular customer of the store, according to another employee, who was in the store but not near the counter when the crash happened.
Police have placed caution tape around the perimeter of the property, and the store remains closed at this time. An official from 7-Eleven was on the scene to assess the damage and coordinate the cleanup effort.
There was no other information immediately available about the driver or whether any citations were issued to him.