No one injured when car rams playground

Caution tape and a few crooked metal posts are all that remain of playground equipment at the Parkside at Mirabeau apartment complex on North Cherry Road in Spokane Valley.

On Aug. 2, a woman drove her car up a slope, through a fence and into the playground equipment, mangling it. The driver had a medical issue and passed out, according to Spokane Valley Fire Department Assistant Fire Marshal Bill Clifford.

The playground was empty even though it was the middle of the afternoon, so no one was hurt, said Dayna Lamb, the apartment complex’s community director.

“Someone was watching out for them,” she said.

The remains of the play equipment were removed so no one could be injured, Lamb said.

“It was demolished,” she said. “We took the rest of it down.”

New playground equipment is on order. It should be installed and the metal fence fixed in the next two or three weeks, Lamb said. There are no plans to change the design of the playground or add barriers because it’s unlikely such an accident will happen again, she said.

“It was just one of those freak things,” she said.