A woman drove her car off the third story of the parking deck on the corner of Elder and Fulton streets across the street from Duke University Hospital Thursday at about 5:45 p.m.
Before the car fell, it plowed through the wall of the garage when the accelerator stuck and the brakes malfunctioned, according to an accident report. Sharon Michel, the driver, was treated at the Hospital for minor injuries and then released. No one else was hurt. Duke University Police Department is investigating the incident.
Michel, a social worker at Duke University Medical Center, said she pulled her 2001 Ford Focus out of her parking space and began to accelerate down the ramp. As she drove out of the parking garage, she realized that her brakes were not working and the gas pedal was stuck.
“It all happened so quickly and I just looked at my options and I didn’t want to hurt anyone,” Michel said.
She noticed an empty parking space adjacent to the cement half wall of the garage and turned her car, assuming the impact with the wall would stop the car. Instead, the car broke through the wall and fell three stories to the ground below, landing on its roof.
“When I realized I went through the wall, frankly a sense of peace came over me, and I knew I was going to be okay,” Michel said. When the car landed, she remained conscious and crawled out of the car.
“I’m just so thankful not only to be alive, but also that I did not hurt anyone,” she said.
Michel visited her co-workers Friday, and she will return to work Monday.
The parking garage was closed at the time of the accident to evaluate the safety of the parking deck, said Becky Oskin, a spokesperson for DUMC. The immediate analysis revealed that the garage was structurally sound, and it opened at 8:45 p.m., Oskin said.
The damage to the parking deck is still unknown, but according to an accident report from DUPD, the damage to the car was about $20,000.
The damage will likely be covered by insurance. According to the police report, the primary cause of the accident was the car’s malfunction.
Ford has recalled the Focus for a variety of reasons at least 11 times in recent years, and several websites noted that the Focus had issues with faulty brakes and the accelerator sticking. In the most recent Consumer Reports survey, however, the Focus was the “top pick” for all-around performance and the magazine noted that the model had improved considerably.
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