Car Crashes Into Pharmacy Building

A car crashed through a brick storefront on Route 35 Thursday morning.

Campbell's Pharmacy at 2175 Route 35 at Sea Girt Avenue was not yet open shortly before 9 a.m. when a man crashed a 1994 Ford Aerostar minivan through one of the windows, shattering glass and tossing bricks into the building where a half-dozen employees were preparing to open the business, owner Dennis Campbell said.

The 83-year-old driver, who police describe only as a Sea Girt resident, was unharmed, according to a release from the Wall Police Department.

No one inside the pharmacy was injured either, Campbell said.

The driver told police he was pulling into a parking spot in front of the pharmacy when his foot slipped off the brake and onto the accelerator, according to the release. 

Workers were assessing the damage around 9:30 a.m., and Campbell was taking customers' prescriptions at the front door and entering the store around the rubble to the pharmacy counter to fill them. 

The pharmacy, he said, had just undergone a total renovation, completed three months ago.

"We were fortunate no one was hurt,'' Campbell said. 

The Wall Township Building Department said the building was structurally sound, despite the severe damage, the release said.

The driver was cited for careless driving, and the accident is under investigation by Patrolman Dan Santoro, the release says.