OT: Marin CA Grand Juror Rams Civic Center Building


Guy claims the accelerator was stuck. Gee, is he old? Here's a hint: He
worked on the Manhatten Project.

Funny how this stuck accelerator thing only seems to happen to the really
old. Maybe they get a little wild with the denture adhesive.


Bo Raxo

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/15/BAG97QG03K1.DTL

A member of the Marin County civil grand jury crashed his vehicle through a
wall of the Marin Civic Center complex on Thursday, damaging a wall at the
base of an archway of the historic building in San Rafael, authorities said.

Donald Hanahan, 88, of Novato was lifted from the wreckage of his Toyota
Camry by rescue personnel of the San Rafael Fire Department at about 3:10
p.m., a half hour after his vehicle rammed into the structure designed by
architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

Hanahan, a biochemist for the Manhattan Project in the early 1940s and an
educator, was serving on the grand jury with his wife, Lillian. He told
authorities that his gas pedal stuck and his car accelerated, causing him to
take evasive action by driving off the pavement to avoid hitting
pedestrians.

The car tore through a wall and nearly entered the lobby of the entrance to
the complex that leads to the county courts.

[...]



"He seems to believe that the accelerator got stuck. He believes that's what
happened," said grand jury foreperson Karin Hern. "He's a very bright
chemist and educator and he directed his car into the bushes to avoid
hitting anyone. He had just started his car. He had just left our most
recent plenary session to go home."

[...]

Hern said that Michael Smith, the county treasurer, told her that Hanahan
was lucky that his car broke through "the only hollow wall that's left in
the Civic Center building."






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