8 Hurt as Car Crashes Into Patio Area of Restaurant : Accident: Driver of vehicle in Ventura Boulevard incident is hospitalized, complaining of chest and head pains.

Eight people were injured Friday when a car plowed into the outdoor dining area of a crowded Sherman Oaks restaurant during lunch hour, showering patrons with bricks and debris, police said.

About 100 people were inside La Frite French restaurant on Ventura Boulevard at 1:10 p.m. when the car jumped the curb and slammed into a brick planter that surrounds the restaurant’s outdoor seating area, Officer Dave Cueto said.

The crash impact knocked over several tables. Six diners were hospitalized for minor to moderate injuries. The driver of the car, Anele Stirbys, 67, of Van Nuys was hospitalized after complaining of pain in her head and chest.

Stirbys was stopped at a crosswalk about 100 feet east of the restaurant when a car driven by Jill Holden, 24, of Sherman Oaks struck her car from the rear and pushed it forward, Cueto said. Holden also was hospitalized after complaining of pain.

Stirbys “lost control and jumped the curb,” Cueto said, adding that her car was traveling about 20 m.p.h. on the sidewalk. The car knocked over a parking sign and swerved across 30 feet of sidewalk before it slammed into the three-foot-high brick planter and a metal pole that supports the restaurant’s sign.

According to Cueto, Stirbys said: “I could not stop the car. I saw the people in the restaurant and I thought I was going to kill someone.”

Neither driver was cited.

Waitress Shannon Pierce, 25, had just left change at a table near where the car hit when she heard a deafening crash. “I didn’t see it,” she said. “I just heard a big bang and saw stuff go flying. I ducked. I thought it was a bomb.”

A Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety inspector ordered restaurant owner Andre Ramillon to close the area near the crash until repairs are made.

By 3 p.m., a dining area about 30 feet from the crash site was swept free of debris and the tables were covered with blue and white tablecloths.