A car crashed into Rite Aid in Damariscotta at about 10:15 a.m. today, causing extensive damage to the building and the car but no injuries.
Janet K. Wynne, 77, had just left Coastal Car Wash and was pulling her Ford Taurus SEL into a parking space on the Main Street side of Rite Aid, Damariscotta Patrol Officer Devin Polizzotti said.
Wynne told Polizzotti her brakes “were a little loose,” but she thought it was just moisture from the car wash.
She pulled into the space and applied her brakes, but “the brakes went right through the floor and she went up onto the pillar and into the wall,” Polizzotti said.
The building and the car sustained extensive damage.
Inside Rite Aid, employees blocked off an aisle where the car hit the wall, knocking shelves over and spilling dozens of bottles of nail polish. There were cracks in the wall and damage to several ceiling tiles.
“From talking to the manager, it sounds like it was a good thing no one was on the other side, because they probably would have been hit,” Polizzotti said.
The store will stay open, although corporate headquarters will examine the building, an employee said.
The car sustained damage to the radiator and the undercarriage.
Quick Turn Auto Repair and Towing Inc. removed the car from the place where it came to rest, atop a concrete barrier and leaning on the wall of the building.
Damariscotta and Newcastle firefighters cleaned up a small fluid spill at the scene.
The Central Lincoln County Ambulance Service, the Damariscotta and Newcastle fire departments, and the Damariscotta Police Department responded to the scene.
The department does not suspect alcohol or speed as factors in the accident, Polizzotti said. Wynne was wearing a seat belt. The airbags did not deploy.
