Rolling Meadows senior center recovering from car strike

The Rolling Meadows Senior Center still awaits repair and the return of an injured employee after a 63-year-old student driver crashed her car into the building April 28.

The employee inside, who is also in her 60s, was working at a computer and pinned between two desks when the car accidentally crashed through the window and brick wall, Activities Coordinator Jan Nowotarski said.

"It's a miracle she didn't get hurt any worse," Nowotarski said of her injured colleague. "Luckily, the blinds weren't completely opened, so she wasn't hit by the glass."

The facility at 3705 Pheasant Drive is run by the Rolling Meadows Park District. The damaged wall remains boarded up while repair costs are determined by the insurance company.

Police said the driver, 63-year-old Shakuntla Garg of Arlington Heights, was trying to park in front of the senior center when she pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake and accelerated across the lawn and into the building.

Garg had an instructional driving permit and was being taught to drive by her son-in-law, who was in the passenger seat, Nowotarski said.

About four car lengths separate the parking space from the building, and witnesses of the damage speculated that Garg must have pressed down harder on the gas pedal out of panic.

Garg was cited with failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, Rolling Meadows police Sgt. Tony Gaspari said.

The unidentified employee was treated and released from Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights the same day, but has been recovering at home since, Nowotarski said. The woman could be back at work as early as next week.