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A shopkeeper watched in horror as a car driven by an elderly woman reversed on to a footpath and hit another elderly woman, sending her upper body crashing through the shop's window.
"It was horrible to see," said Mary Ann Joll. "I was here on my own. It
was closing time. I had just come to the counter to do the till."
The 80-year-old woman who was hit was pinned by the legs against the shopfront in Havelock North and suffered serious injuries, including a fractured left femur and severe lacerations to her hands. She was struck by an 89-year-old, who police said mistook the accelerator for the brake when reversing into a carpark.
The accident happened at 4.45pm on Wednesday.
The 80-year-old had surgery at Hawkes Bay Hospital yesterday for the fractured femur and was in a stable condition last night.
She is the second elderly woman to be pinned against a shopfront by a car and seriously injured this month.
The 89-year-old driver, who has a current licence, was uninjured but said to be extremely traumatised. Police said she would likely be charged with careless driving causing injury.
Ms Joll, owner of Thorps Fashion Centre, watched the green Peugeot 306 car try to enter the parallel park but instead cross 5m of footpath and hit the shopfront backwards.
"I saw the car reverse, mount the footpath and hit the lady who was looking in my shop window and send her through the window and shatter the whole of the window."
Ms Joll said glass from the 3m by 3m window flew "everywhere" and there was "a lot of blood" as the injured woman was trapped.
Ms Joll raced to help her, but a male nurse who was passing was already assisting. "It was fortunate. He knew all the right things to do."
The 80-year-old woman had been shopping with her daughter, 49, who was unable to free her mother.
"By that time, people had all gathered around and the men set about shifting the car off the lady and getting her inside," Ms Joll said.
"They had to get her away from the window because there was the fear of large pieces of glass falling on her."
About 10 people were in the group who freed the woman.
Constable Tim Rowe of the Hastings traffic unit said they lifted the Peugeot at the front.
"Because the car was an automatic and was in reverse when the driver got out, they were unable to start it," he said.
"They virtually lifted it off the ground so the front wheels weren't driving and just pulled it forward slightly so they could get the victim out."
A car parked in the next space had complicated the situation, wedging the Peugeot in against the window.
Bruce Jackson of Unio Goldsmiths Gallery said the group, which he recalled as mainly women, bounced that car out of the way.
Police and an ambulance rushed to the scene.
Ms Joll praised the injured woman's daughter in dealing with the traumatic situation.
"She was absolutely wonderful [and] kept her mother calm."
The 89-year-old driver appeared in shock and was taken away by relatives who came to collect her.
Damage to the clothing store was minimal - "It was mainly the glass and blood" - and it reopened yesterday after the window was repaired.
Mr Rowe said the driver was spoken to yesterday and understood she would probably be charged.
"She's extremely traumatised and quite depressed by what happened."
Gisborne woman Glenda Eames, also 80, had both legs amputated last week after she and her 84-year-old husband, Sidney, were hit by a car mounting a kerb in Palmerston North.
