Applebee's suffered little structural damage besides the wall bowing-in slightly and a baseboard and a chair-rail were separating from the wall by about an inch.

BUTLER TWP — Unless people went inside the Applebee's at Butler Crossing Tuesday afternoon, most wouldn't realize that a van ran into the building. At 12:30 p.m., a silver Toyota minivan was pulling into a handicapped parking space when the vehicle jumped the sidewalk and ran into the northwestern wall of the restaurant at 200 Butler Crossing.

The accident occurred when the male driver of the van was attempting to park and inadvertently hit the gas instead of the brake, said Butler Township Police Lieutenant Matthew Pearson.

From the outside the building appears untouched except for some displaced mulch. However, the stone exterior had some minor cracks in the mortar, according to Butler Township Fire Marshal Christopher Switala. Inside the restaurant, the damage was more noticeable.

John Whittington, an assistant manager at Applebee's, said there was only a little structural damage, pointing to where the wall bowed-in slightly and a baseboard and a chair-rail were separating from the wall by about an inch.

The van showed minor damage, with green paint scraped a few inches along the driver's side from a handicap parking pole.

A full story will appear in the Butler Eagle.