A driver suffering a medical emergency plowed through a Planet Fitness in Lake Elsinore on Monday, sending gymgoers scattering for safety.
Riverside County Fire Department said that the woman lost control of the vehicle while suffering a medical emergency and crashed through the gym’s glass entry. The car traveled about 30 feet inside the building before coming to a halt, leaving a trail of shattered glass and wrecked gym equipment in its wake.
The incident occurred around 12:30 p.m. at the gym on Mission Trail, authorities said.
Video footage shows a concerned gym member using a weight plate to smash the car’s glass and retrieve the driver.
“I didn’t even know a car went through until one of my employees came up and said, ‘There was a car through the gym.’ That’s when I got up and went to see for myself. And it sure was. There was a car deep inside the gym,” Bianca Myers, who works at a business next door, told ABC 7.
Officials stated that the woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was later hospitalized. It is unclear whether the injuries were caused by the crash or the medical emergency. Further details about the nature of the emergency were not immediately available.
Amazingly, none of the Planet Fitness members present were injured.
Surprisingly, the gym reopened later that evening.
The incident is under investigation, authorities stated.
Planet Fitness Car Crash Woes Continue
Monday’s shocking car crash at the Lake Elsinore location marks the second time in as many years that a car has crashed into a Planet Fitness.
Last August, one person was killed when an SUV struck a Planet Fitness in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Officials said a 69-year-old woman drove a maroon Jeep through the glass windows in front of the building.
Tragically, a septuagenarian exercising inside was struck and killed.
The SUV driver and a 59-year-old man who was using a treadmill were injured and hospitalized.
In January, the family of the 72-year-old man killed in the crash filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Planet Fitness.
The lawsuit claims that the franchise owner should have installed safety barriers, bollards or other types of protective posts.
The driver involved in the deadly crash will not face any charges, according to the city police.