Seizure cause of accident

Published 12:00 am Monday, March 14, 2005

VIDALIA, La. &045; It was probably a seizure that sent the driver and an older model Ford crashing through the front of Car Quest Auto Parts Tuesday, Police Chief Billy Hammers said.

Carolyn Marvel of Natchez was transferred from an intensive care unit at Natchez Regional Medical Center into a regular room Wednesday.

Hammers said police learned Marvel has had a history of seizures, and officers now believe if was the medical problem that caused her to drive her car across two lanes of oncoming traffic and straight into the Carter Street storefront.

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Store employees and several eye witnesses heard squealing tires and looked up in time to see the vehicle quickly coming directly into the glass windows. Two men inside the store were able to duck behind the counter before the collision and were not hurt.

The vehicle crashed through glass, metal and brick pushing several aisles of car care products aside and scattering the merchandise throughout the store. The car was completely inside the store before its tires stopped spinning, witnesses said.

Marvel was removed from the scene and transported to Natchez Regional. The car was removed by tow truck about 30 minutes later.

The front of the store was boarded up Tuesday night, but Car Quest was open for business Wednesday. Customers can enter through a door on the right hand side of the building.

Hammers said despite the medical cause, Marvel may still be ticketed, since the accident caused such severe damage.