The Hancock Accounting and Tax office, 2464 N. Truman Blvd., in Crystal City was damaged on Oct. 18 when a 54-year-old Rolla man crashed a pickup into the building. That crash happened after the man was involved in a fender bender with another vehicle on Hwy. 61-67, Crystal City Police Capt. Mike Pruneau said.
At about 7:30 p.m., the Rolla man was driving the 2023 Ford F150 pickup north on the highway next to a northbound 2020 Toyota 4Runner driven by a 25-year-old Festus man, and the two vehicles bumped into each other.
Then, the Rolla man continued driving for about a quarter-mile before pulling over to turn around in a parking lot outside a building that houses a number of offices, including the Hancock Accounting and Tax office. Somehow the man accelerated into the building, Pruneau said.
“He didn’t know exactly what happened but thought his accelerator got stuck,” Pruneau said.
He said the Rolla man was trapped inside the pickup until the fire department extricated him. Once the man was free, officers asked him to complete a field sobriety test and a portable breath test, both of which showed no sign of alcohol use.
Pruneau said just one person was present in the Hancock Accounting office during the crash – the owner, Terri Hancock, and neither she nor the Rolla man was injured.
Hancock, 67, of De Soto said she had just stopped by the office to finish some projects when she heard a series of crashes.
“It took out our front wall and went into the next office space,” Hancock said. “It threw all the filing cabinets that lined our halls.”
Hancock said she was fortunate to have been uninjured by the accident since she had been in the front of the office where the accident took place just minutes before.
“It could have been a lot worse,” she said.
Hancock said a vehicle that she purchased the week before had been sitting outside her office and was damaged in the accident.
“It was parked right in front of the building. He hit the driver’s side, smashed in the driver’s side and then moved it over two spaces. He had to be moving pretty fast,” she said.
Hancock said the business has been temporarily relocated a few doors down to an office space she already was renting for storage at 2468 N. Truman Blvd. within the same building. She said she wasn’t sure when her office would be repaired but hopes the work will be finished by the end of the year in time for tax season.
She said she has been operating her business in that office space for the past 20 years. Customers may still call her at her usual business number at 636-931-3517.