Driving through wall 2nd crash in 24 hours for woman
BY BILL BIRD wbird@stmedianetwork.com December 4, 2012 9:32PM
Naperville firefighters respond around 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30, 2012, to a vehicle that crashed into the wall of a business at Rosin Eye Car, 705 East Ogden Ave., Naperville, IL. | Brian Delaney ~ For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: January 6, 2013 10:07AM
The motorist who drove her car through the wall of an optometry clinic on Naperville’s northeast side Friday afternoon was responsible for a similar crash less than 24 hours earlier at a business only three doors away, Naperville police confirmed Tuesday.
Mary Hasselberger was involved in the crashes at Rosin Eyecare, 705 E. Ogden Ave., and the Dunkin’ Donuts at 811 E. Ogden Ave., said Sgt. Lee Martin, supervisor of the police department’s traffic unit.
Hasselberger, 66, lives on the 300 block of North Charles Street, in the Charles Court area of Naperville’s east side. Neither she nor anyone else was hurt in either incident.
The first crash occurred about 2:35 p.m. Thursday, while Hasselberger was behind the wheel of a silver Ford Taurus, Martin said. The car was in the Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot at the time.
Martin said the car burst through a wooden fence separating the lot from a home behind the restaurant. “It kept going into the yard of the house,” where it struck a tree and a bench, he said.
The home in question is half of a duplex on Red Oak Court.
Martin said police issued no traffic tickets in that case because the crash occurred on private property.
The crash at Rosin Eyecare occurred about 1 p.m. Friday, as Hasselberger was driving a rented, 2013 Buick LaCrosse sedan.
A police investigation revealed she was driving north on Columbia Street and attempting to turn into the parking lot of the Walgreens store at 713 E. Ogden Ave., located between the clinic and the Dunkin’ Donuts .
Martin said the car made “a big circle” and overshot the Walgreens lot entrance. It then went over a curb and a grassy area before smashing through the metal fence separating the Rosin Eyecare and Walgreens properties.
The car then slammed into and through the clinic’s northeastern wall, coming to rest partially inside the lobby.
Naperville firefighters had to extricate Hasselberger from the vehicle. She declined to be taken to a hospital for treatment, and four employees who were inside the clinic at the time escaped injury. Damage to the building was estimated at $50,000.
Hasselberger told police the brakes on both cars failed when she tried to stop. Martin, however, said investigators “did not note any mechanical issues involved in the vehicles in either crash.”
Police in the Rosin Eyecare incident cited Hasselberger for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident/driving too fast for conditions.
An examination of records on file in DuPage County Circuit Court in Wheaton showed Hasselberger was ticketed six times between February 2000 and March 2009 by police in Naperville and Downers Grove. Those citations were for speeding, driving without insurance and failure to signal, records indicated.
