Woman drives car into Mandeville shop

By Anne Lautzenheiser
St. Tammany News
Published on Monday, March 2, 2009 9:10 AM CST

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J.B. Wolfe Bridal in Mandeville opened a little earlier than usual Thursday when a woman smashed her station wagon through the front of the store just before 9 a.m.

The 2004 Cadillac CTS, driven by Mandeville resident Sirlene Carter, 57, cruised 70 feet through the store at 4244 Louisiana Highway 22 before coming to rest against the back wall. According to Capt. Ron Ruple, Mandeville’s interim police chief, Murphy was pulling into a parking space when she apparently hit the gas instead of the brake.

“She said it felt ‘mushy’, so she pressed it harder and it just shot forward,” said Ruple. “Unfortunately this happens every now and then.”

A Cadillac station wagon sits at the rear of a Mandeville bridal shop after a 57-year-old woman smashed into the front of the store Thursday morning. (Photo courtesy Mandeville Police Department)

St. Tammany Fire District 4 Chief Merrick Tassin said Murphy had exited the vehicle by the time medical personnel arrived. She appeared unhurt and refused medical treatment.

Tassin said part of a wall had to be removed in order to get the car out of the store, which was closed at the time. No load-bearing walls were damaged, however, so adjacent shops in the strip mall should not be affected.

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