Unsafe Safety Town: Westlake Woman Crashes SUV At Program

WESTLAKE, OH — Safety Town was not very safe on July 21. A mother coming to pick up her child forgot some basic rules of the road, lost control of her SUV, and crashed into the Safety Town shelter. Luckily, no one was seriously injured during the incident.

The woman, 39, was coming to pick-up her son from Safety Town. While en route, the woman's dog got loose in the vehicle, crawled under her feet, and the woman lost all control of the vehicle. The SUV crashed into a railing outside of the old Board of Education building, hit another car in line to pick-up a Safety Town student, and then crashed into the shelter. It was undoubtedly the most vivid demonstration of why caution matters on the road in the history of Westlake Safety Town.

The Safety Town kids were safe inside the Safety Town garage, away from the shelter. The woman suffered minor injuries as a result of the crash, but no one else was hurt. (To stay up to date on local stories, subscribe to the Patch Westlake newsletter. As news breaks and the story develops, you will be the first to receive updates from Patch.)

"We were very fortunate," said Captain Guy Turner of Westlake Police.

Coincidentally, the Westlake Police shared a message on Facebook on July 20 asking residents to leave their dogs at home while running errands. Sure, the message was about how hot the interior of a vehicle gets in the summer, but the post still seems particularly timely.

The woman likely won't be allowing Hooch to play co-pilot again.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that the mother was picking up her 1-year-old son from Safety Town. The 1-year-old was in the SUV, the woman was picking up her other son from Safety Town.

Photo from Westlake Police