By Peter Sowards

SENIOR REPORTER

[email protected]

A woman sustained possible neck injuries in a car accident on May 9 on Washington Street along the EWU campus.

Cheney resident Laura D. Shumway, 46, was heading north on Washington Street near Cadet Hall at approximately 3:15 p.m. when she began driving erratically, according to a police report. She sideswiped a gold Honda Accord, then careened into the parking lot and damaged three more cars.

Shumway was cited for negligent driving in the second degree.

Despite a 16-inch barrier separating the sidewalk and the parking lot, the 1985 Ford Bronco jumped the obstruction, swiped the front of a Pontiac and pushed a Lincoln Continental sedan nearly two parking spaces from its original resting spot and into a Jeep Liberty.

James Scarcello was driving south on Washington Street when he saw the woman’s Ford Bronco swerve in and out of his lane. “I pull over. She swerves into my lane where I was, zooms past me, and I’m thinking, ‘Oh God, that could have been me,’” Scarcello said.

Despite the presence of pedestrians on the sidewalk, no bystanders were hurt. Physical therapy student Elaina Straus was walking southbound on the side of the street near the Cadet Hall parking lot when she saw the accident develop about 50 feet in front of her. According to the police report, Straus told police that the driver blew her left rear tire, which caused the accident.

She described the vehicle as “flying down the road.” Straus also said that the woman had a small dog on her lap at the time of the accident.

The dog was removed from the vehicle and remained on the scene until someone came to claim it.

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