A Honda CRV backed into the front of Dales Gallery at 537 Fisgard St. around 8:40 a.m. this morning.
According to police, the driver appeared to be confused while attempting a U-turn and accidentally reversed his vehicle onto the sidewalk and into the front facade of the art gallery in a historic Chinatown building.
“He was confused and is shaken up,” said Victoria Police spokesman Bowen Osoko at the scene. Luckily, no one was injured. “No one was diving out of the way.”
Dales Gallery owner Alison Rogers said her alarm company alerted her to the crash. She arrived to find the front door, window and facade of the gallery smashed in “a few feet.” It didn’t appear that any art was damaged in the crash. A large print of the Johnson Street Bridge was in the window and is now, “dangling in the wind,” she said.
Police said the City of Victoria has an engineer on site looking into whether the heritage building was compromised in the crash. If so, they plan to take stability measures. The road was not closed in the incident.
