Crime & Safety

Dr. Blue Jeans Cleaning Up After Jaguar Plows Into Store

Tony Pacheco says this is the second time a car has crashed into his store on Van Nuys Boulevard.

What a sight it was inside the Dr. Blue Jeans store in Sherman Oaks on Tuesday, the day after a woman accidentally drove her bright red Jaguar through the front window, smashing it to bits and breaking everything in its path.

"It's such a mess, I don't know where to start cleaning it up," said store owner Tony Pacheco, standing in the middle of a pile of broken glass and shattered wood on the floor of his small shop at 4454 Van Nuys Blvd.

Pacheco, who has been in business there for 15 years, is known as Dr. Blue Jeans by his customers.

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"I was one of the first people to create a business repairing blue jeans," said Pacheco. "That was 25 years ago."

"Fortunately, my store is closed on Monday. If me and my customers were here ... when that car smashed into the place, we could have been seriously injured," said Pacheco, shaking his head.

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"Thank God we weren't here," added his wife, Bernardita, picking up pieces of shattered glass and debris on the floor. The store was boarded up all day, and a sign saying "Restricted Use" was posted in front.

The accident happened Monday at about 4:30 p.m. 

The driver of the 2002 Jaguar, Allie DeMatoff, said she lost control of the vehicle as she was pulling out of a parking space at the mini mall.

"I lost control because my shoe started to come off, my sandal ... and when I was trying to put my foot into the sandal, I pushed on the accelerator," DeMatoff told Sherman Oaks Patch moments after the accident.

After crashing through the front window, the vehicle lurched forward for about 10 feet into the store before a steel beam came down from the ceiling and halted the car's progress.

Los Angeles city fire units arrived on the scene shortly after the accident occurred. They tried to push the vehicle out of the store.

"It was really fortunate that nobody was inside the place," said Fire Capt. Rodrigo Fuentes. "We could have had some serious injuries."

Police arrived and cleared the crowd away from the store.

Helicopters began circling overhead, and television news crews showed up and started taking video of the scene.

"I have insurance for this kind of thing, the landlord has insurance and hopefully the person who caused this also has insurance," said Pacheco, surveying the damage inside his store.

A clothing rack of jeans that had been repaired appeared to be untouched by the incident.

"About two years ago, another car was knocked into my front window after it was rear-ended by a car behind it," said Pacheco.

"That also happened on a Monday, so nobody was here. Looks like Monday is a good day to be closed," he added, smiling.


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