SUV makes a surprise entrance at salon

Cindy Goebel was sitting at the front desk of Centre Court Hair Design Studio Monday afternoon when she glanced up and got the shock of her life,

A sport utility vehicle was heading toward her.

“It’s something I never, ever saw before,” she said. “I saw it coming and ran like heck away from it.”

The vehicle, a 2003 Ford Explorer, crashed through the front window of the salon.

“Thank God that the concrete wall is there. It stopped the car,” Goebel said.

The car crashed into the front reception area, but Goebel said that Monday is a day when they handle overflow appointments so there wasn’t anyone standing there.

“I’m just so happy there was nobody sitting there,” she said.

Usually, there’s only one employee in the salon on Mondays, she noted, but this week there were four people inside.

According to Port Washington police, the accident occurred when Diane Andreas of Saukville was pulling into the access road in front of the salon at 1000 N. Wisconsin St. about 1:12 p.m. Monday.

Andreas, 68, who was heading south on the access road, apparently hit the gas pedal instead of the brake when trying to park, Port Washington Police Chief Kevin Hingiss said.    

“Obviously somebody could have gotten hurt,” Hingiss said. “But nobody was hurt.”

Because there was still glass hanging in the window, the car was towed from the scene, he said. 

“There wasn’t much damage to her car,” Hingiss said. “The damage was mostly to the building.”

Goebel said Andreas originally parked on Wisconsin Street, but salon employees told her to park in the lot because there’s no parking on the street in front of the building.

“We didn’t want her to get a ticket,” she said, noting the woman was coming in to make an appointment.

 The crash, Goebel said, could be heard throughout the building, which also houses other offices and businesses.

 Immediately after the crash, she said, employees called 911 and she went running through the building yelling for her landlord Tim Bach, who had been in the salon just minutes earlier.

“It was pretty crazy,” she said. “I think it took me 15 or 20 minutes to stop shaking.”

 Bach rallied people to board up the window and crews came in to clean up the salon Monday night, so Centre Court was back in business Tuesday.

A number of people stopped in to see if everyone was all right, Goebel said, and she received text messages from others — a response that was heartening.

Andreas also called Tuesday to apologize, Goebel said, adding she was glad to hear the woman was doing OK.

“We’re open for business and doing fine,” Goebel said. “A little excitement never hurt anyone.”