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Teen driver hits wrong pedal, then post office
By MIKE SAEWITZ © St. Petersburg Times, published May 11, 2001 ST. PETERSBURG -- Customers at the small branch post office couldn't help but crack jokes Thursday about the car that crashed into the lobby. Sitting beside the car, 18-year-old Indira Bachoo, a St. Petersburg Junior College student, couldn't help but bury her head in her hands. Bachoo was driving the car when it suddenly popped up on a curb and veered into the front window. She was planning to take her driver's test today. "I smashed on the accelerator instead of the brake," said Bachoo, whose mother was sitting in the passenger seat. Inrowtie Bachoo pulled the emergency brake as the red Nissan Stanza smashed into the Euclid branch of the U.S. Postal Service on Thursday afternoon. One customer was injured. Denise Emerson, who was standing just on the other side of the window, fell straight back on her head and back. She was still under evaluation Thursday at Bayfront Medical Center, but she did not appear to have life-threatening injuries, hospital officials said. The front section of the post office was closed off for the afternoon, but the branch continued to do business within an hour of the accident. Bachoo, who received her learner's permit last June, was cited for careless driving. She will either have to pay an $80 fine or go to driving school, said Officer Robert McLaughlin of the St. Petersburg Police Department. Bachoo, who came to St. Petersburg from Trinidad after high school, said the driving test is on hold.
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