SALEM Driver loses control of her car, smashes into fire department

SALEM -- An 88-year-old woman escaped injury but was cited after her car went out of control, struck a pickup truck and rammed the fire department.
Lena Scullion of 1152 S. Lincoln Ave., drove up to the Filbert Alley payment window at the city utilities department about 10:30 a.m. Monday, police said.
She didn't park her 1989 Plymouth Horizon close enough to the window to reach the payment drawer.
Thinking she had put the car's transmission in park, she opened the car door to either lean or step from the vehicle to reach the drawer, police said.
The car apparently was not in park but in reverse and began going backward.
It scraped the side of a pickup truck behind it, then continued about 100 feet in reverse and smashed into a vehicle door at the fire department. The door was pushed into a fire department pickup truck parked behind it.
Scullion was inside her vehicle while it was out of control, Fire Chief Walt Greenamyer said today. She was cited for failure to control.
The door will need replaced, which will cost about $4,000, Greenamyer said. There was no damage to the firetruck, he added.
No injuries were reported.