The Palmerton field house at Seventh Street and Delaware Avenue was heavily damaged after a vehicle crashed into it Thursday evening.

Borough police Chief Randy Smith said the incident occurred at 5:13 p.m. when the driver, Francis Botek, 81, of Lehighton, was traveling east on Delaware and wanted to make a U-turn to go west.

As he proceeded to do that, he said he didn’t know what happened but the gas pedal stuck, and the vehicle traveled across Delaware Avenue into the field house building, Smith said.

Smith said there was a witness who said Botek pulled his vehicle into the parking lot, the wheels began spinning, and the vehicle accelerated quickly.

He said Botek received minor lacerations to his left arm and left leg, while the passenger, his wife, had blood on her lower lip. Both refused treatment.

Smith said Palmerton Area School District was notified of the crash. The borough no longer leases the Seventh Street athletic field from the school district.

He said school district maintenance employee Manny Mendes arrived on scene, and did not find any further structural damage to the concrete block building other than the wall.

Smith said the vehicle had heavy front-end damage, and all the air bags were deployed.

He said there will be no citations issued.

Smith said also assisting at the scene were the Palmerton Fire Company and EMS. The vehicle was removed by Paul Strohl’s Towing.

He said the scene was cleared around 5:40 p.m.