A Nelson man says he’s thankful nobody was hurt Monday morning after his unmanned mini-van rolled down Sixth Street and came to rest against a Gordon Road house.
“I parked and was fixing a computer inside of a home,” explained Dan Nelson, who operates a computer repair business. “After about a half hour somebody knocked on the door to tell us that my car had rolled away.”
Nelson said he put his car in park and though he usually sets the parking brake, had not done so this time. Just after 10 a.m., his Honda Odyssey apparently popped the parking gear and rumbled down the long city block that features a relatively gradual slope.
On its unmanned journey down the street, the small mini-van struck a no-parking sign, rolled up partially on a Sixth Street lawn, crossed Gordon Road, went through the front yard of the property at 825 Gordon Road, hit a trampoline and came to rest after hitting the house. Though there was minor damage to the siding of the house, no major damage was sustained to the residence.
“I’m just happy nobody got hurt,” said Nelson. “It could have been worse.”
Employees at the Interior Health’s Community Care Services building beside the house where the vehicle came to rest, heard the noise as it came down the street. Once it hit the house, employees rushed out to see what was going on and called police.
Nelson Police Department and the Nelson Fire Department were quickly on scene. There was nobody home at the Gordon Road house Monday morning and there were no injuries in the incident.
“Lesson learned for sure,” said Nelson of his rough start to the day. “I almost always use the parking brake, but unfortunately this time I didn’t.”