Car slams into Arlington Heights hair salon; one person injured

A car slammed into an Arlington Heights beauty salon Wednesday morning when the driver hit the accelerator instead of the brake, police said.

Police and witnesses said a customer of Elegant Style Salon, 214 E. Grove St., was pulling into the parking lot about 10 a.m. for a hair appointment when she sent her Mercury Grand Marquis crashing into the storefront.

"All of a sudden she just came through the window," said Ellie Lou Gill, owner of the salon. "It was scary."

Gill was inside the salon at the time, as were Thompson, another employee and a few customers.

The driver, Patricia Fitzgerald, 74, of Roselle, has been a customer for 25 years, Gill said.

An employee of the salon, whom police identified as Debra Thompson, was taken by ambulance to Northwest Community Hospital to treat cuts on her arms. Fitzgerald was also taken to the hospital because she was shaken up after the accident, police said. Both Fitzgerald and Thompson were treated and released Wednesday, hospital officials said.

Arlington Heights police Sgt. Richard Marcinkowski said Fitzgerald will not be ticketed because the accident happened on private property, but the department will request that she retake her driver's license test.

The inside of the salon was a mess of broken glass and debris. Neighboring businesses in that strip mall did not appear to sustain any damage and village building inspectors cleared the rest of the structure for occupancy.

"There's a lot of damage here," Marcinkowski said. "The building is totaled. It won't be open for business anytime soon, if ever."

Marcinkowski said it appears this kind of incident is becoming more common.

"We're seeing a spike in accidents of this nature," he said. "If you're able to drive safely, that's fine, but if you can't drive correctly, we need to get you off the street."

Both Daniel Mayer, owner of the shopping complex, and Desiree Glass, office manager at Arlington Security, next door to the salon, said they, too, have seen other incidents similar to this in the area.

"These older ladies hit the parking curbs all the time," Glass said. "We've been talking about it for years, waiting for this to happen."

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