July 1, 2009 - By
Dwight Hayes
Patty Hernandez, of Arab, got
quite a surprise Wednesday night when she went to move a GMC
Yukon Denali from the rear parking lot of a local laundry to the
front of the building. Hernandez told police she thought
the vehicle was in reverse, but instead it was in drive.
When she stepped on the gas the vehicle jumped over a concrete
wheel stop and crashed through the concrete block wall of the
building. The vehicle ended up with the front third inside
the building. Her husband was in the building at the time.
It was unknown if anyone else was in the building. The
Laundry Basket is located at 214 Cullman Road.
There were no
injuries in the mishap, but it did force the closing of Cullman
Road and surrounding streets for about 30 minutes. The SUV
ruptured a 1 1/2 inch natural gas line as it crashed through the
wall filling the building and surrounding area with a large
amount of natural gas. Arab Fire & Rescue personnel were
able to cut-off the gas after arriving on the scene. An
Arab Electric Cooperative crew cut electrical power to the
building to prevent an electrical spark and the gas was allowed
to ventilate out of the building an to eventually dissipate into
the outside air.
The building,
owned by Terry Wayne Moody, received extensive damage to the
wall and air conditioning systems. An elevated air
conditioning condenser had to be tied off by fire personnel to
allow the vehicle to be pulled from the building.
Arab Police, Arab
Fire & Rescue worked the scene and Arab Rescue Squad helped with
traffic control
