Massachusetts

How Did an SUV Get on the Second Floor of South Shore Plaza?

In video posted to social media, police and firefighters appeared to be walking alongside an SUV as it backed up on the second floor of a mall in Braintree, Massachusetts

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Photos and videos posted on social media Thursday show an SUV on the second floor of a Massachusetts mall.

The Braintree Police Department says officers responded around 11:45 a.m. after a Lincoln MKX stopped on the second floor of South Shore Plaza in Braintree.

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Video from the scene shows police walking beside the vehicle as it backs up in front of Track 23 and Eros Footwear.

Police told NBC10 Boston no one was injured. The driver, an older woman, was taken to the hospital as a precaution.

According to police, the woman drove over the pedestrian bridge from a parking garage.

"Due to a recent accident, one of the safety bollards was missing from the entrance," the Braintree Police Department said in a press release.

Police said the sensor doors opened and the woman drove into the mall, then took a left and drove about 60 yards down the corridor.

Cell phone video captured the SUV slowly creeping along on the second floor, catching shoppers and mall employees by surprise.

"I heard screaming first. One of the mall security women was just screaming 'Stop! Stop! Stop!' When I looked up, there was a car like right in the corner of my window," said Stacy Bartkos, a store clerk on the second floor. "She came in, took a left and somebody finally stopped her."

Janet Parsons, who was walking in the mall, said she saw the driver and stopped her at one point.

"I looked behind me and...I couldn't see who it was but they were driving real slow," Parsons said. "As they got closer I pushed my granddaughters against the wall and I moved and stopped her."

According to Parsons, that's when the woman said, "Do you know how to get out of here?"

A vehicle ended up on the second floor of a mall in Braintree, Massachusetts.

Parsons asked the woman to stay put while she ran to get help.

"She just evidently kept on coming because when I came out of the store to run to another store, she came around the corner and kept on going real slow," Parsons said. "It's a blessing that no one got hurt. I hope the woman is alright."

"She obviously was having an issue. Whether it was heat, age, whatever. She was having an issue," Parsons added.

"It was an elderly woman, I mean, I'm assuming she was just confused. Thankfully she stopped and they took her keys away but yeah, that was a first," Bartkos said. "And I've worked at malls for quite awhile. Been here for a shooting. This was crazier."

No charges have been filed against the woman, whose name was not given. Witnesses say she was cooperative and handed her keys over to police Thursday. Police said they were requesting the Registry of Motor Vehicles to suspend her license.

There was some minor damage to the woman's SUV and some planters and other things that were knocked over, but fortunately no one was hurt.

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