Man hits license center after taking driver's test

He apparently would have passed if not for last-minute mishap

Moments after he completed his driver's test on Wednesday afternoon, a man crashed his car into the glass doors of the license exam center in Collier, his startled instructor still in the passenger seat.

The car skidded clear into the building, where about 10 customers were seated in a waiting area.

Police said the man, 34-year-old Robert Keller, had pulled into a parking space outside the Drivers License Center about 3:45 p.m. after doing well on the road test behind the sprawling Chartiers Valley Shopping Center.

"He thought he had it in park but he didn't," Collier police Sgt. Brian Halbleib said, and the car jumped the curb when he took his foot off the brake. "He panicked and hit the accelerator, and went through the front."

Stunned customers screamed and called 911, witnesses said, bits of broken glass on the floor and in their shoes. Long skid marks were still visible Wednesday night, as clean-up crews assembled new glass windows and doors behind a ribbon of yellow caution tape. The center was closed today.

"It was pretty crazy," said 18-year-old Tyler Cherilla, of Imperial, who was among those waiting to get his license. "I turned around and it had just plowed right into the front. I was just scared for the people who were next to the door."

Four people suffered only minor injuries, and two were taken to hospitals for evaluation. Neither the driver nor his instructor, who works for PennDOT and administered the test, was hurt, said Sgt. Halbleib.

Both men were "shaken up quite a bit," he said. As for the driver, the sergeant added, "He just kept apologizing. He didn't mean to do it. Right now, we're ruling it an accident."

Mr. Keller did not pass the test.

First published on October 14, 2010 at 12:00 am