KEY POINTS:
A woman who desperately tried to pull her 80-year-old mother from the path of an out-of-control car in Havelock North yesterday watched in horror as the mother was struck and pinned to a wall.
The car, driven by an 89-year-old woman, pinned the terrified victim by her legs and forced her upper body face-first through a shop window.
Today the woman was undergoing surgery at Hawke's Bay Hospital for what were described as serious leg injuries.
Police were today still contacting members of the injured woman's family and had not released her name.
Constable Tim Rowe said the driver of the car had been reversing into a car park on Te Mata Road about 4.45pm when she accidentally put her foot on the accelerator instead of the brake.
The car jolted across the footpath hitting the elderly woman - narrowly missing her daughter - and pinning her legs against the shop wall. Her body was rammed through the glass display window of Thorps Fashion Centre.
The car was lodged in reverse, jammed between the woman and a parked car on the roadside.
Thorps Fashion Centre owner Mary-Ann Joll witnessed the crash.
"I saw the car coming, mount the footpath and hit the lady, sending her through the window. I just thought, 'this is not happening', I couldn't believe what I was seeing," she said.
The woman was trapped in the window, with the car crushing her legs.
Ms Joll said: "She was there for a while, jammed there, she didn't move and didn't speak. It was awful to see the lady like that, it was horrible."
Unio Goldsmiths Gallery owner Bruce Jackson said he heard screaming and ran across the road. He watched as about 20 shoppers, mostly women, bumped the car forward and pushed it away from the victim.
He, and two other men, one a male nurse, helped free the woman.
"We carefully picked her up and the nurse took control. We took her inside and she was had quite a few cuts and bruises, and her legs were broken," Mr Jackson said.
"The nurse was brilliant, it's lucky someone comes to help like that."
The woman lay inside the store until an ambulance and police arrived, and was taken by to Hawke's Bay Hospital.
Mr Rowe said the driver was shaken and extremely upset. Anyone who saw the crash should contact Hastings police, he said.
Police were still investigating, but charges were likely.
- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY
