Crash Hurts Girl at Plant Nursery; Driver Held

A 7-year-old girl escaped serious injury Saturday when a man suspected of drunk driving plowed his station wagon into a Glendale plant nursery, pinning her between a wrought-iron fence and a flower display table, police said.

Edward Borczak, 61, of Glendale was arrested on suspicion of causing injury while driving intoxicated after the 9:40 a.m. crash, Glendale Police Sgt. Karl Ward said.

Christie Joy Merrill of Glendale was with her grandmother at Armstrong Garden Center when Borczak’s car crossed San Fernando Road, jumped a curb and crashed into the fence, coming to a stop about 8 feet inside the nursery grounds, Ward said.

The accident occurred as Borczak made a left turn from Kellogg Avenue onto San Fernando Road and the turn “never straightened out,” Ward said.

Borczak was leaving Lulu’s, a bar across Kellogg Avenue from the plant nursery, Police Sgt. Dwayne Bruce said.

The child crawled out from between the table and the fence almost immediately, police said. She complained of pain in her hip and was taken to Glendale Adventist Medical Center, where she was treated for scrapes and bruises and discharged, hospital officials said.

Borczak was being held at the jail ward at County-USC Medical Center in lieu of $2,500 bail, Ward said. Borczak was not injured but required medical attention because of an earlier stroke, authorities said.