Man Passes Driving Test, Then Crashes Into DMV

Moments after passing his driving test, a Pennsylvania man mistakenly crashed his car into a department of motor vehicles building, smashing through a window and plowing into a waiting room. Four people were injured, none seriously. The man’s license ended up being revoked before he even got it. Robert Keller, 34, of Carnegie pulled into a parking spot outside the DMV in Collier, Pa., on Wednesday after successfully completing his driving test. Police say he thought the car was in park rather than drive, and then got the accelerator and brake pedals mixed up.

“When I went into my spot, I wasn’t exactly straight. ... I was going to put it in reverse, and I mistakenly hit the wrong pedal,” Keller told All Headline News. “The car jerked forward into the building at that stage.”

An employee at the Dollar Bank Loan Center next door to the DMV said he “heard a loud bang” and then ran outside to see what had happened. “I heard people screaming and ran outside. There were people lying on the floor and glass everywhere,” Michael Deeb told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Neither Keller nor his driving instructor, who was still in the passenger seat, was hurt. Two of the four people hurt inside the building were hospitalized with minor cuts and bruises.

“He was very apologetic,” Collier Police Chief Thomas Devin told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “He was more concerned about them than himself.” “He kept saying, ‘I hit those people. I hit those people. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Are they all right?’ He was beside himself,” Deeb said.

But in the end, Keller failed his test, Devin said. “He was doing pretty good, up until he went through the building.”

Oct. 15, 2010, http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/robert-keller-passes-driving-test-then-crashes-into-dmv/19675222?test=latestnews