Injuries Narrowly Averted After Car Hits Nail Shop #1

Police said a man trying to back out of a parking space on Solano Avenue struck two cars before accidentally accelerating into a nail salon on Saturday.

Police received the first report about the accident at about 12:40 p.m.

A 79-year-old man from Berkeley had been backing out of a parking spot, said officer David Belman Jr. of the , when he reversed into a vehicle behind him Solano.

After possibly becoming disoriented, he hit a second vehicle stopped in traffic as he continued to reverse.

He then "put it in drive and he stepped on the gas instead of the brake, and careened into the storefront at 1419 Solano, ," said Belman. 

One woman inside the shop was "barely missed" by the driver, who struck a couch where a second woman had been sitting moments earlier.

"She had just gotten up. It was lucky," said Belman. The first woman received minor injuries to her wrist when she fell while trying to escape from the vehicle's path. 

The driver damaged the doors and storefront window of the nail salon, and hit an interior wall connected to next door.

Belman said the accident investigation found no indication of drugs, alcohol or a medical problem. The driver was not cited or arrested. 

There were no injuries to people in the other cars struck by the driver. 

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