Mother, daughter injured after Lexus crashes into Taco Bell

OAKLEY, Calif. - A mother and her young daughter suffered major injuries Tuesday night after their car crashed into a fast food restaurant.

Oakley police say the car was moving at high speed when it hit a stone bollard at the entrance to a Taco Bell restaurant in the Raley’s Plaza on Main Street.

The front end of the Lexus sedan was destroyed and the driver, 30, had to be extricated.

Her daughter, 3, also suffered trauma, including a possible broken jaw.

It was not known if she was strapped into a child safety seat.

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Witnesses in the shopping center say the Lexus was seen driving erratically in the parking lot.

"She drove probably 50 or 60 miles an hour past the store, accelerating with no braking, and I think she went up on the curb, she hit shopping carts," said witness Stephanie Pruscha.

After the crash, two medical helicopters landed near the intersection of Main Street and Live Oak Avenue, causing a brief road closure.

The woman was flown to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek.

The toddler was airlifted to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland.

The pillar at the Taco Bell entrance prevented the car from plowing through plate glass windows and into the restaurant, where many more people might have been injured.

Taco Bell employees were seen gathered inside, as the fast food outlet closed its dining room, but resumed drive-through service after the crash was cleared.

Pruscha was among the first to reach the car and helped rescue the little girl.

"When we heard the crash I came running but didn't know where the car had gone," said Pruscha. "When I got here, and they said there was a baby inside, I just jumped up on the car and when the officer gave the okay I pulled the baby out."

Oakley Police are looking for witnesses to the crash and the driving behavior that preceded it.