"Downtown Tulsa parking garage incident draws crowd
The car broke through the building from a parking garage about 2 p.m. Wednesday. SHANNON MUCHMORE/Tulsa World
By SHANNON MUCHMORE World Staff Writer
Published: 4/28/2010 2:49 PM
Last Modified: 4/28/2010 7:30 PM
Downtown workers got a surprise Wednesday when they stepped outside to see a white Mercedes sticking out of a top level of the Bank of America building’s parking garage at Sixth Street and Boulder Avenue.
The car broke through the building’s exterior wall from the seventh floor of the parking garage about 2 p.m. Wednesday. Debris rained down to a parking lot below, damaging several cars. No injuries were reported.
Police said the car was in reverse on the other side of the parking garage when the driver’s foot got stuck on the gas pedal. He wasn’t able to stop before the car crashed through the wall.
Scores of workers from nearby buildings came out to see the sight and take pictures with their cell phones.
Mary Barnes, an Arvest Bank employee, found that the roof and windows of her dark gray 2008 Toyota Corolla had been smashed by the falling debris. She was shocked to see what had happened.
“It still felt new to me,” she said of her car.
She said insurance, whether it’s hers or the other driver’s, should take care of the damage to her car.
“Basically, everything has been damaged but the back bumper,” Barnes said.
Officials were able to drive the Mercedes back into the parking garage, as the back wheels were not completely outside the building.
A plywood board covered the hole in the building Wednesday evening.
Police said the car was in reverse on the other side of the parking garage when the driver’s foot got stuck on the gas pedal. He wasn’t able to stop before the car crashed through the wall.
