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CHICAGO -- At least four people were reported injured Thursday when a car was driven through a Hometown coin laundry, striking through both the front and back walls of the building and nearly colliding with a gas main.

The accident occurred at 4104 Southwest Highway in the southwest suburb around 2 p.m., Hometown Fire Capt. Gary Dolan said.

An older woman behind the wheel of what appeared to be a Chevrolet Cavalier was in a parking lot in front of the Hometown Laundromat when the car accelerated, jumped a curb and drove straight through the building, said witness Gary Bernier, an employee at Pizza Plus at 4102 Southwest Highway.

The car went about 150 feet from the front wall and through the building before stopping at the back wall, where it knocked out several bricks, Hometown Fire Deputy Chief Mike Kucaba said.

There was another person in the car injured and a third person hurt inside the building, Bernier said.

A fourth person hospitalized from the accident as well, an Oak Lawn fire dispatcher said.

The driver and two women who had been inside the laundry were in fair condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Kucaba said late Thursday afternoon.

A Hometown police officer was being treated in good condition at Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Care Centers in Evergreen Park after being overcome by the car's exhaust and fumes from inside the building, according to Kucaba.

An ambulance from neighboring Evergreen Park was also sent to the scene, a dispatcher from the southwest suburb said.

Nicor crews went to the scene and shut off the gas main behind the Laundromat, Bernier said.

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