HOUSTON – Local businesses are cleaning up after a driver accidentally slammed their vehicle into a busy shopping center.
Workers continue assessing the damage after witnesses say the SUV lost control and slammed into the building.
"I heard a noise that was about the loudest thud I'd ever heard. Like a bomb exploded," said store owner Gary Baum.
He says thankfully there were no customers in his southwest Houston mattress store when a woman driving an SUV came crashing through the front window.
"Unbelievable. I'm still puzzled as to how it happened," Baum said.
Witnesses say the woman was driving along Richmond in the rain when she lost control, jumped a curb and drove right into both businesses. Police say the driver told investigators she passed out behind the wheel, although they say she didn't show any signs of impairment.
"And she was coming to us and I guess it startled her and she accelerated right into our store. Within five seconds, if I wasn't right there, I would've been dead," said witness Jason Baum.
Although the woman was taken to a nearby hospital, amazingly no one was seriously injured.
"I'm just glad, everything can be replaced except a life," Gary Baum said.
The property manager tells us a load bearing wall was completely bent upon impact. So all five business along this side of the shopping center will remain closed for at least a week until they can be deemed safe to re-enter.