New London – A woman driving north on Union Street on Friday afternoon crashed her car through the ornamental limestone barrier surrounding City Hall, just below the windows of Mayor Michael Passero’s office.
The crash left no injuries and the woman, who has not been identified, was the sole occupant of her beige sedan, police and firefighters said.
The crash was reported at 2:40 p.m. and at 3:45 p.m. the scene was cleared, Fire Battalion Chief Jonathan Paige said by phone. “She knocked over a significant amount†of the wall, Paige said.
Police Captain Brian Wright said no arrests had been made and explained that the woman at the wheel “didn’t negotiate the turn too well and crossed the sidewalk near the stone apparatus of the town hall “when trying to turn onto Union Street from State Street. .
The accident happened just below the windows of Passero’s office on the west side of the building, he said. “I wouldn’t have known this had happened except that the phone was ringing and I was getting text messages about it,” the mayor said.
Passero tweeted several photos of the crash on his Twitter account on Friday, showing the car had partially rolled over the barrier, knocking over some of its pillars in a grassy area between City Hall and Union Street. The car sustained damage to the front passenger side.
Community Development Coordinator Tom Bombria said the “bollard railing” was erected around Town Hall in 1914, when a renovation was completed. He said the town hall was first built in red brick in 1856, but underwent extensive renovations that both enlarged the building and reshaped its facade from 1912 to 1914.
The building was remodeled in the classic Beaux-Arts exterior by New London architect James Sweeney to have a more attractive presence in the flourishing commercial district of the early 20th century, according to The Day archives.
“Fixing (the barrier) will be difficult and expensive, but yes, it will be fixed,†Bombria said.
