By Mary O’KEEFE

An elderly driver apparently lost control of her vehicle and drove into a storefront in the 2800 block of Honolulu Avenue on Tuesday afternoon.

Ani Simonian, president and CEO of American Savings, was sitting at her desk in the front office of her building. Her mother was sitting across from her when the vehicle crashed into the front of her building.

The driver was a 90-year-old woman, according to Simonian.

“She was driving [westbound] on Honolulu [Avenue] and turned left,” Simonian said. “I guess she thought she was turning into the driveway.”

But the driver miscalculated by several feet and missed the driveway continuing to travel forward. The vehicle struck the front of the building between Simonian’s office and the reception area. That she hit the center of a partitioned wall is probably what stopped the vehicle from continuing through the building.

No one was hurt in the building and the driver was transported to the hospital with minor injuries, according to Tahnee Lightfoot, Glendale police spokeswoman.

Simonian and her staff were shaken as workers began to install plywood where windows once were.

“My son usually plays right there,” Simonian said pointing to the front window of her office that is now shattered.

She said she is very grateful and that “God was looking over all of us in the office.” She, her staff and her family are shaken by the accident not only because of what happened but by the thought of what could have happened.

“[The vehicle] missed [Simonian and her mother] by less than a foot,” she said.

Although shaken by the incident, she was busy finding someplace for her company to temporarily move.

“[The construction contractors] said it will take up to three or four months to get this [safe] again,” she said. “I don’t know where we are moving yet.”

Simonian wants her clients to call or email her if they have any questions.

“We are a busy office,” she said. “I am the owner, so I have to keep going.”

The accident is under investigation by GPD.

  Mary Okeefe