Truck crashes into La Cañada nail salon

In an accident that raised memories of the fatal April 2009 runaway truck crash in La Cañada, a pick-up truck collided with a car at about 3 p.m. Friday, went out of control and crashed into Melody Nails in the 900 block of Foothill Boulevard, but no serious injuries were reported.

According to Sgt. Randy Tuinstra of the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station, the pick-up truck either collided with or was cut-off by and then collided with a vehicle in front of it while heading westbound on Foothill Boulevard. It then proceeded southward across the boulevard, jumped a grassy median, struck a tree along the way and smashed into the front of the nail salon.

Melody Nails’ landlord, Leonard Totta, said the proprietors of the nail salon told him the truck had hopped the median and advanced on the salon like it was in “slow motion,” without stopping or slowing before the collision. Totta said the driver was an “elderly gentleman” who was taken out of the vehicle on a stretcher.

Tuinstra said the cause of the accident remains under investigation.

Melody Nails is adjacent to Flintridge Bookstore, which was where the runaway truck made its final collision back in 2009, and Totta said he was thankful that no one in the salon was hurt either time.

“We’ve gotten lucky twice,” Totta said. “We’ve dodged the bullet twice.”