Car to be examined for mechanical failure

Investigators will examine the car of a woman who slammed into the St. Andrews Fire Department headquarters Monday to determine if mechanical failure caused the accident, authorities said Tuesday.

Patrick Henry

An unidentified woman drove a Ford Taurus through a cinderblock wall of the main bathroom at the St. Andrews Fire Department on S.C. Highway 61 at Sam Rittenberg Boulevard. No one was seriously injured in the accident.

No one was injured but the station sustained an estimated $15,500 in damage.

The car, identified as a 1997 Ford Taurus, came to rest with its front end in the station's main bathroom.

A 5-foot-wide hole that the car tore in the cinder block wall was patched with plywood on Tuesday.

The Charleston County Sheriff's Office identified the driver as Patty Elizabeth Bennett, 54, of North Charleston. She declined comment Tuesday.

Officials said she was driving the car through the parking lot of a shopping center next to the station when the car accelerated to 30 mph, broke through a chain-link fence and crashed into the station wall. No one was in the bathroom when the car hit the wall at 1:14 p.m. Three of four sinks and new bathroom countertops were destroyed.

Damage to the car was estimated at $7,000. A plumber restored water to the main bathroom on Monday night. The station has two other smaller bathrooms.

The fire station is located near the intersection of Sam Rittenberg Boulevard and S.C. Highway 61. The accident was the third time in 32 years that the station has been hit by a wayward vehicle, including a driver who ran over a Christmas manger scene and into the assistant chief's office.

Reach Prentiss Findlay at 937-5711 or pfindlay@postandcourier.com.