Students, staff get scare when Subaru runs into fence next to playground in TD

By Tom Peterson

Teachers and students at Headstart received a big scare on Tuesday at 11 a.m. in The Dalles when a white Subaru outback went out of control in a parking lot and headed toward a playground at Oregon Child Development Coalition.

Witnesses said the chainlink fence surrounding the playground stretched and stopped the vehicle just prior to it going into the playground. 

At the time, several students and staff were using the playground on the south end of the campus at 1300 W. 9th Street. The vehicle hit the fence next to the northern portion of the playground.

Witnesses saw the Subaru pop the curb in the parking lot of Advantage Dental. And then the driver pushed down the accelerator sending the car lurching across the grass and between a light pole and tree before hitting the pavement again and then driving over the retaining wall while hitting the chainlink fence. 

No students or staff were injured in the crash.

First Responders from Mid Columbia Fire and Rescue and police were on the scene quickly, witnesses said.

The driver of the Subaru, Nancy R. Moore, a female in her 60s, was able to speak after the accident, according to witnesses and The Dalles Police Log. She was taken to Mid Columbia Medical Center where she was treated and released.  

“Nancy related she was trying to park her car when she pressed on the gas and drove through a patch of grass and over an embankment,” the log states.