THE staff at the dialysis centre were having their regular morning tea when they heard a thud and a bang.
When they rushed out from their offices, they found the hallway littered with glass.
The main doors to the centre had been ripped off and were lying on the floor.
And in the doorway was a black Mitsubishi car, its rear bumper dented.
The driver, who is said to be a 73-year-old man, had allegedly reversed the car into the doors of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) dialysis centre in Block 633, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6.
The incident happened at 9.10am yesterday.
Miss Marites Movales, a staff nurse at the centre, told The New Paper: 'When I heard the bumping sound, I thought a tissue holder had fallen.
'But before I could go and check, I heard a loud bang.'
She and three of her colleagues, who left their offices to check, were shocked by what they saw.
DAZED MAN
Said Miss Movales: 'We saw an old man standing next to the car. He looked dazed and asked us if anyone was hurt.'
Her colleagues then called the police.
The police said they received a call about the incident at 9.15am. No one was sent to hospital and they are investigating the case.
The incident drew curious residents to the scene.
Madam Lina, 37, a homemaker who was having breakfast at a coffee shop nearby, said: 'I thought someone had jumped down from the block.'
There was a heated discussion among the onlookers on how the incident could have happened.
Some said the driver could have lost control of his car and mounted the cement wheel barrier in the lot while he was reversing to park his car.
The carpark is separated from the dialysis centre by a grass slope and a small drain.
When The New Paper was at the scene, the car was still in the doorway of the centre. We also saw tyre marks on the ground outside the centre.
The alleged driver looked tense and seemed to be in a state of shock.
A man, who identified himself as the driver's son, and a woman, were also at the scene. The woman was seen speaking to the police.
The woman later helped to drive the car away to a carpark nearby.
When The New Paper tried to approach the elderly man, he ignored us.
Then, his son stepped in and said: 'My father does not want to be interviewed.'
NKF's communications manager, Miss Yap Chai Kian, said that about 24 patients were at the centre at the time.
The patients were in the dialysis area and were unaffected by the incident.
This article was first published in The New Paper on July 9, 2008.
