SUV ends up inside house SUV ends up inside house (May 12, 2004)

A panic reaction may have been the cause of an unusual accident in the 1200 block of University Drive in Menlo Park at about 1:30 p.m. Friday, May 7, said Sgt. Mark Boettger of the Menlo Park Police Department.

A man in a Ford Explorer sport utility vehicle hit a curb while backing out of a parking space, somehow ended up in forward rather than reverse gear and may have mistaken the gas pedal for the brake, Sgt. Boettger told the Almanac. The Ford struck a parked BMW and drove through the sliding glass door of a house, coming to rest well inside the house.

He just kept accelerating, Sgt. Boettger said, adding that the driver said he was "terribly sorry" about the accident.

Both vehicles and the home were seriously damaged, but no one was injured, Sgt Boettger said. The home was unoccupied at the time of the accident.

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