By Khalida Sarwari
The woman who crashed a Subaru Outback into an apartment building in San Mateo late Tuesday night was an inexperienced driver who mistook the accelerator for the break, police Lt. Mike Brunicardi said today.
The crash was reported at 11:39 p.m. at a two-story apartment building at 3180 Casa De Campo, Battalion Chief Mike Borean said.
The driver, a 22-year-old woman who lived in the building, and a passenger were not injured, Brunicardi said. Nor were any of the residents inside the building.
The crash caused an estimated $40,000 in damage and displaced a family of five, Borean said.
They lived in one of two affected ground-level units. The first, which was vacant, sustained the most damage. A gas leak occurred in the second unit, where the family lived.
Gas and water lines were shut off and the unit will be uninhabitable for a few days, Borean said.
Because the new driver, who was unlicensed, was practicing in the vicinity of her home, she was not cited, Brunicardi said.