Two pedestrians were hospitalized Saturday morning after being struck by a car in a busy grocery store parking lot in Arlington, Massachusetts.
According to Arlington police, officers found several people injured when they responded around 10:15 a.m. to the Stop and Shop located at 905 Massachusetts Avenue. Police initially said four people were injured but later confirmed it was only two people who were hit by a car.
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A preliminary investigation revealed an 87-year-old Belmont man was behind the wheel of a Mercury Marquis as he pulled into the Stop and Shop parking lot and struck a parked SUV, pushing it into the front of the store where it hit a flower display. As the man began to move his vehicle, he hit two pedestrians, police say.
The pedestrians -- a 61-year-old Arlington woman and a 70-year-old Randolph man -- were taken to local hospitals for treatment, where one of them was in critical condition, police said. The driver was also transported to a hospital in the area. Everyone is expected to survive.
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According to police, the driver didn't remember much about what happened when officers spoke to him, and investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the crash.
"We don't know if it was a medical emergency, mechanical failure or if it was driver error. That's still being investigated at the moment," Sgt. Stephen Porciello said. "Time will tell."
Porciello added that it was a very busy morning, given the nice weather and that it's a holiday weekend.
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"It's a nice beautiful Saturday morning, holiday weekend, so it was fairly crowded. There were people around, there were cars trying to come in and out, there were a lot of people watching what was going on," he said. "There was definitely some panic in the air."
One of the people out shopping on Saturday was Susan Austin. She tells NBC10 Boston that it was her parked SUV that the elderly man hit. Austin says she was inside the store when she was told she needed to leave through another door because of the crash.
When she went outside, she says she found that her white SUV was not where she left it -- it was pushed over three spaces.
Photos from the scene showed the white SUV, as well as the man's Mercury inside yellow police tape where investigators were making markings on the pavement. There was also visible damage to a flower stand that had been at the storefront, with dirt on the brick wall and potted plants strewn about.
The parking lot was closed following the incident, and police asked people to avoid the area.
"Access to the parking lot will likely be disrupted for much of the afternoon," police said in a statement.
An investigation by the Arlington Police Department is ongoing. No charges have been filed at this time.
