'Oops'

COEUR d’ALENE — “Oops.”

That one word summed up what happened Tuesday when a driverless parking enforcement vehicle rolled across a street and struck a brick building in downtown Coeur d'Alene.

“She said, ‘Oops,’” said Nancy Cafferty, store manager of the Good Samaritan Rehabilitation Thrift Store at Fifth and Lakeside.

Volunteer Recka Vetsch was working inside the store about noon when something moving slowly just outside the large front window caught her eye.

The small silver vehicle with “Parking Enforcement” in bold, large white letters on it bumped up and over the curb and thunked into the building, its grill stopping inches short of the window.

“Everything rattled a little bit, but didn’t crash,” Vetsch said. “That could have been bad. It wasn’t, so we’re very grateful.”

“You don’t see that every day,” Vetsch added.

The vehicle belongs to the city, while the driver is employed by Diamond Parking.

Audrey Bell, Diamond's area manager, said the driver thought she had put the vehicle into park in the parking lot at the southeast corner of Fifth and Lakeside when she went to place a violation envelope on a vehicle.

As she turned and walked from her car, it began to slowly roll down the sloped driveway and into the street before coming to rest when it hit the thrift store.

There were no injuries. A few bricks were cracked and the front grill of the vehicle was scraped during impact.

Bell said they were thankful no one was hurt.

“We take safety very seriously,” she said.

Vetsch said the driver remained calm.

“She didn't come running. She just was finishing her job and then came over,” she said.

Cafferty joked that the thrift store likes deliveries of donations.

“Just not through the front window,” she said, smiling.