A driver mistakenly hit the gas instead of the brake and drove into a north Nanaimo dance academy around 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 18. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)
broken glass

Car smashes through dance academy window in north Nanaimo

Jan 18, 2022 | 2:33 PM

NANAIMO — A local performance art space sustained significant damage after a vehicle came crashing through.

First responders were called to Sara Raymond Dance Academy at Nored Plaza near Costco, at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 18 after a motorist plowed through the businesses’s front glass window and door.

Academy owner Sara Raymond told NanaimoNewsNOW on scene she was on her way in when the incident occurred.

“Usually I come to work early to prep classes and I didn’t this week, it was just by fluke and I’m driving here and I get a call that there’s a car right through my building.”

No-one was injured, including the driver. Nobody was in the dance academy at the time.

Witnesses and police on scene confirmed the driver accidentally hit the gas instead of the brake pedal.

One witness, who did not want to be interviewed, said the car came within a couple of feet of her as it crashed through the business. She was shaken but otherwise fine.

Raymond was told there was no structural damage done, however her business will be closed for at least a few days for clean up and repairs.

“It sounds like they’re going to board it up, so hopefully in a few days but the mirror is also impacted as well so that’s going to take time as well,” Raymond said.

A vehicle ended up inside a north Nanaimo dance academy after apparently mistaking the gas for the brake pedal during a mid-afternoon crash on Tuesday, Jan. 18. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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