January 9, 2006

Keller Williams Realty experiences tense moments
when SUV rams through lobby

By Jeanne Carbone Lewis
Staff Writer

Imagine you’re sitting at your desk. Outside your office someone is driving their car into a parking space in front of the building. And it keeps going, right through the lobby to where you’re sitting.

Keller Williams Realty staff experienced frightening moments when a driver drove through the lobby of the office located 2542 S. Bascom Ave.

This is exactly what happened to Keller Williams Realty call coordinator Ashley McFadden on Dec. 21.

“I had just looked at the clock on the computer while I was talking to Ashley [Menkemeller—a co-worker] on the phone,” said McFadden. “It was 12:33. The driver’s goal was to park the car in the disabled parking space in front of the office. There was a screeching noise as he ran over the curb and through the front door. He hit the desk where I sit and kept going right to the second conference room where he kept trying to back up.”

McFadden relates that the room filled with smoke from the tires burning rubber and she was trapped behind her smashed desk. As the male driver tried to reverse the 2000 Nissan mini SUV, she escaped over the six-foot divider that held the many mailboxes for the agents where she fell. She then ran out the door to the left where she hyperventilated and collapsed. Broker Mike Sibilia and assistant Diane Samson hearing the commotion quickly came to her aid and carried her away.

All’s well that ends well at Keller Williams Realty on S. Bascom Avenue. Team leader Pat Conlan, left, market center administrator Cathy Ippoliti, broker Mike Sibilia, agent service coordinator Lindsey Menkemeller and call coordinator Ashley McFadden stand in what was once their lobby. Photo by Jeanne Carbone Lewis

“It was a miracle that no one was hurt,” said team leader Pat Conlan who was sitting in the large conference room in back of the lobby where the SUV entered. “I thought it was an earthquake with the engine roaring and stuff flying all around until I saw the car in the second conference room. Just five minutes before there were two agents sitting in the room where the car ended up. One of the agents left her purse there and it was run over. It’s pretty amazing that no one was hurt. The saddest thing was to see the Christmas tree still standing in the midst of all the rubble.”

Keller Williams Realty is located 2542 S. Bascom Avenue between Union Avenue and Dry Creek Road; occupying the office since February 2002 and growing to 160 agents. The accident happened at lunch time and four days before Christmas so the office was not as fully occupied as usual.

“The driver was a 78-year-old Santa Clara resident,” said San Jose Police Department Sgt. Nick Muyo. “His foot got stuck on the peddle. He was confused and tried to back out until a witness told him to turn off the car. He was not hurt. He is listed on the report as the responsible party and was not cited.”

Police take a statement from the driver in front of the conference room that was destroyed. Photos courtesy of Keller Williams Realty

Broker Sibilia reports that furniture has been ordered for the lobby and conference room, phones are properly working and insurance companies have been notified.

“It’s a blessing that everyone is okay and safe,” said Sibilia who calls the accident the Crash of 2005. “Nobody got hurt which is a miracle in itself.”

McFadden now sits at a desk in a temporary lobby area created near the main entrance of the office building. She says she cried for two days after the accident but now she is fine thanks to her co-workers.

“I feel so extremely blessed to work with such an amazing team that comes together to work and support one another through any circumstance,” said McFadden. “I would not have been able to recover so quickly both physically and mentally without their support.”