SUV Plows Into Stone Wall at La Luna Market

Gloria DeLuna was dumping used ice cubes out in the front of her family's La Luna Market in Rutherford at about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday when she heard a car engine rev up close by.

The noise was odd, coming as it did from the curved driveway entrance loop to the store on Rutherford Road (Highway 128) -- a slowing-down area.

"I heard the engine rev up and I turned, and, all of sudden, she was in the wall," DeLuna said. "It was not what I expected."

Sure enough, an Expedition SUV owned by Jesus Velasquez of St. Helena had toppled a lawn shrub and a yellow statue and crashed into the front stone wall.

Inside, the impact took out the inner wall of the store, pushing out a Coke refrigerator and possibly damaging the electrical conduits that served the fridge, said John Gill of Gonzalez Electric. All electrical circuits in the wall behind the refrigerator have been shut down, he said.

No one was hurt in the incident, although DeLuna said it was "very close" to her.

"I'm just now calming down," she said at about 4:30 p.m.

CHP Sgt. W. Bradshaw said officers went to the scene but determined the accident occurred on private property and so was not a police matter.

Velasquez was a passenger in the car driven by his 15-year-old companion, Siria Perez-Aguilar, according to an accident report.

It appeared that Siria had hit the gas instead of the brake pedal, but it was not immediately clear if that were the case.

DeLuna said she had no word yet on a damage estimate. The store was remaining open Wednesday and all other electrical units appeared to be operating.

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