Elderly man crashes into building, injures two women in Oceanside

OCEANSIDE - An elderly man driving to pick up his wife at an Oceanside retirement community crashed into a building, injuring his wife and another woman, when he mistook the accelerator for the brake, police said on Wednesday, April 17.

It happened around 5:20 p.m. Tuesday at Villa Trieste, a 55-and-over community off Rancho Del Oro Drive west of MiraCosta College, Oceanside police Sgt. Lonny Harper said.

The man, believed to be in his 80s, was driving a Toyota Matrix sedan when he hit the accelerator instead of the brake and crashed into the clubhouse at the retirement community, Harper said.

Two women, both in their 80s, were inside the clubhouse at the time and were struck by the car, the sergeant said.

Both women were taken to a hospital following the crash, Harper said, adding that one suffered a serious leg injury, which was not believed to be life-threatening, while the extent of the other woman's injuries was not immediately available.

The elderly man was uninjured in the crash, Harper said.