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Faye Clement is comforted by North Mississippi Medical Center paramedic Beth Wiygul at the scene of a car wreck at the post office on Main Street in downtown Tupelo on Monday. One customer had minor injuries and Clement was not injured in the accident. (C. TODD SHERMAN | DAILY JOURNAL)
Barbara White begins to clean up the inside of the downtown post office after emergency officials cleared a vehicle that crashed through the front doors Monday afternoon. (C. TODD SHERMAN | DAILY JOURNAL)
TUPELO – A Main Street post office employee said it was a Christmas miracle that no one was seriously injured when a minivan drove into the building Monday afternoon.
“The line had been long all day until about 10 minutes before,” said Kenny Long, who was working at the counter during the wreck. “How lucky can you get? That is a Christmas miracle.”
He said only one customer was in line when Faye Clement’s Chevrolet Lumina left the street and came in backward through the front doors of the post office.
Clement said she had parallel parked on Main Street and went into the branch to get stamps for her Christmas cards. Then, she got back into her van, was reversing and she thinks the gas pedal got stuck at some point.
The van then spun around and shattered the glass front doors and the glass barricade around the mail counter and wound up in front of some P.O. boxes.
Clement was shaking after the wreck, but she said she was OK. The customer inside was treated for minor injuries from the shattered glass, according to Corp. Brett Moyer of the Tupelo Police Department.
The employees weren’t hurt and the mail and packages inside escaped unscathed, said Steve Bishop of the U.S. Postal Service.
“There’s really nothing post office-related damaged beyond the doors,” he said.
The branch closed Monday for cleanup and repairs and is scheduled to reopen today.
carlie.wells@journalinc.com