Car crashes into Chaffee convenience store

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- No one was hurt, though several people were inside, when a car crashed into a Chaffee convenience store Wednesday morning, owner Ron G. Russell said.

Russell said when a Mercury Grand Marquis crashed through the front of his Chaffee One Stop, three employees and three customers were at the store. The car narrowly missed some customers sitting at a table inside, Russell said.

Chaffee police chief Jim Chambers said the elderly woman driving the vehicle told police she pressed on the gas instead of the brake while the car was in gear in front of the store.

"She hit the accelerator and drove right through the front door," Chambers said. He declined to identify the driver, but said she was taken to a hospital as a precaution, but was uninjured. No criminal charges will be filed, he said.

When he first heard the crash, Russell mistook it for an explosion, until he got a glimpse of the car inside his store.

Employee of Chaffee One Stop, Randy Buchheit, helps clean up the damage after a Mercury Grand Marquis crashed through the front of the Quickie Mart around 10 a.m. Wednesday morning. Three employees and three customers were in the store but there were no injuries. When he first heard the crash, store owner Ron G. Russell mistook it for an explosion, until he got a glimpse of the car, driven by an elderly woman, that was inside his store. Russell said the store will be closed today, but he plans to attempt to make it safe enough for customers by Thursday morning. (Elizabeth Dodd)

Russell said the store would be closed Wednesday, but he planned to make it safe enough for customers by this morning.

Pertinent address:

304 N. Main St., Chaffee, Mo.