By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
CLAREMONT, N.H. — Officials are saying that a vehicle that crashed through the storefront of America’s Mattress was likely unintentional and nobody was hurt, but the store is now closed indefinitely as its owner goes through the insurance process.
“We are waiting for all the insurance people to put all their claims in, and the adjusters have to come, and then you’ve got all the parties involved, so in the process but in limbo until it all happens” said owner Dana Fletcher.
The accident occurred on Sunday afternoon, and Fletcher said that he was in the store talking to customers about a mattress. He said there were children in the back of the store where there is an area they can play, and fortunately they were all away from the crash and unharmed.
Around 2:15 p.m. a 73-year-old woman appears to have accidentally hit the gas pedal sending her vehicle careening into the business at 216 Washington Street, he said. Fletcher said luckily the car went up over some cinder blocks, sending it onto a pile of mattresses that stopped the wheels from spinning.
“Basically there was a woman in the parking lot who claims the gas pedal got stuck,” Fletcher said. “She bounced off my father’s car and the gas pedal kept on being floored, and it kept going straight into the store through the main window. Luckily the customers I was with were in the middle of the store, and their kids were in the back where there are some toys.”
Fletcher said they rushed over to see if the woman was OK, told her to turn the car off and stay in the car, and other bystanders called 911. The building was evacuated to make sure it was structurally sound, and they waited for EMTs to get the woman out. The woman’s daughter was contacted, who came to make sure she was OK. No injuries were reported by officials.
“Accidents happen, and it seems like this was just an accident,” said Claremont Fire Chief Jim Chamberlain. “I will say I was very pleased with the fire department’s response. We had Lempster and Unity covering the station, and they had a response time at that location of under three minutes.”
Claremont Police Chief Brent Wilmot said he does not believe the accident was intentional, as well.
Chamberlain said it is his goal to have all response times under five minutes, so he was very happy with this considering there were multiple departments involved assisting each other since Claremont firefighters were extinguishing a brush fire at the same time.
“We do our best to mitigate efficiently and effectively, and this was true in that case,” Chamberlain said.
The store was then boarded up with plywood to make sure nobody could get in or get hurt. Fletcher said the store will be closed for possibly a week, as it needs to be cleaned of broken glass, and have proper repairs made. He was unsure of a damage total as of Monday at noon.
“We need to close because we can’t have people laying on the mattresses, because even ones far away are covered with glass,” Fletcher said. “But I can’t touch it until insurance comes, or all these adjusters come.”
Even though the store is closed, Fletcher is answering phone calls at the store and has also included his number to call or text in a Facebook post. Anyone who needs to pick up their mattress can still do so, and he said people can check out the store’s Facebook and website.
“For people who have ordered mattresses, I’m going to be delivering them,” Fletcher said. “For people looking to pick something up, I can be there to meet them. I just won’t be here waiting all day in an unheated building.”
For more information log onto https://www.americasmattress.com/locations/nh/claremont/67259/ or check them out on Facebook at facebook.com/AMCLARMONT.
