A lone employee sitting at a computer said she caught the impending sound of disaster.
“You could hear that revving,” said Serrena Becerra, dental assistant at Lisa Tatum Dentistry.
Then came a smash, as Mary Toms, 86, plowed her 2001 Buick into the empty waiting room of the Stoneridge Drive office on the western outskirts of Waynesboro.
State police said the impact of the 1:30 p.m. crash threatened the integrity of the structure. Preston L. Yancey Volunteer Fire Department, Augusta County Fire Department and New Hope Fire Department remained on scene past 5 p.m. with a building inspector.
The crash shook every suite in the building, Becerra said.
“It felt like it was an explosion but I didn’t see anything crumble,” she said. “Then everything on that long wall flew back to where [outpatient] rooms would be.”
Becerra was alone inside because the dentistry was closed for vacation.
Sarah Toms, the driver’s daughter, was seated in an office next door when she heard “an extremely loud bang.”
“I felt the building shake,” she said.
Trooper D.A. Thompson said Mary Toms was in the process of parking when she mistook her accelerator for the brake pedal. Thompson said she would not be charged because there were no injuries and the crash occurred on private property.
The Buick remained lodged in the building hours after the crash as fire crews worked around the car to stabilize the building with lumber and rebar, Thompson said.
Authorities said at least three other offices occupy the building. Each would most likely be closed until a building inspector deems the building safe, Thompson said.
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