*Video Added* Elderly Woman Injured After Car Flips Onto Roof in Downtown Fairfield

An 86-year-old motorist was injured Monday morning after she hit the gas pedal instead of the brake and flipped her car onto its roof by Chase Bank in downtown Fairfield, firefighters and police said.

The woman, who lives in elderly housing by St. Thomas Aquinas Church in downtown Fairfield, was conscious and alert when firefighters arrived about 11:40 a.m. Firefighters used the "Jaws of Life" to extricate her from the car, and she was taken by AMR Ambulance Co. to St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport with "moderately severe injuries," firefighters said.

The vehicle was on its roof on grass in front of the 1401 Post Road bank when firefighters arrived, according to a Fire Department report on the accident. The roof was crushed down onto the doorway, and the woman, who was still in her seatbelt, complained of pain to her left side and was initially treated by a firefighter who entered the car through a window. The car was totaled, firefighters said.

Police said the woman was making a right turn into a parking lot by Chase Bank when she apparently pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake, accelerated through bushes, onto the front lawn of Chase Bank and struck a curb. "That's what launched the vehicle, and the vehicle rolled onto its roof," said Police Sgt. Sue Lussier, a department spokesman.

Lussier said police did not find any mechanical malfunction with the car's brakes in the initial investigation and that the car was towed to Star Towing on Jennings Road in Fairfield.

After firefighters removed the woman from the car, medical care was turned over to AMR paramedics, according to the Fire Department's report.

An engine company, two ladder companies and police responded to the accident, according to the Fire Department's report.

Video reporter Stephen Krauchick of www.203CT.com contributed a video to this report.