Car Plows Into Vacant Publix Store

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Not your typical day at a Miami shopping center after a car plowed into the front of a building which used to be a Publix supermarket.

It happened Thursday afternoon in the 3800 block of Flagler Street. The driver, who police described as a man in his 80s, hit the gas instead of the brake and the car shot forward.

He struck someone walking in front of the vacant store before he slammed through the glass doors and security gate. He then plowed into a wall which caused the car's air bags to deploy.

"The car came here, hit the wall, and suddenly it, we only heard the noise," said Cristina Mejia, who works in the shopping center, "Then later we saw the car was inside. It's was scary, it was a big 'bam'."

"I think it was incredible," said Sachi who works in the store next door. "He went through, inside what used to be a Publix and it's just incredible."

The man, who was not seriously injured, was ticketed for the accident.