Car Plows Into Office Building in Mission Valley, Driver Gone

The wreckage, abandoned by the driver, was found at 2275 Rio Bonito Way Friday morning

A car plowed into an office building in Mission Valley Friday morning but when authorities got to the scene, the driver was nowhere to be found.

The hit-and-run wreckage was first reported just after 6:45 a.m. outside a building at 2275 Rio Bonito Way. The car appeared to have veered off the roadway, jumped the curb, drifted across a sidewalk, through some bushes and into the windows of a building marked with the logo of Blue Shield of California.

Dark skid marks were left behind on the sidewalk near the site of the crash. Pieces of the car were strewn about the area.

The wrecked car landed very awkwardly -- on its nose, sticking up vertically, resting on the side of the building. Several windows were shattered; the back tires of the car poked through broken windows and ended up partially inside a cubicle in the office building.

The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) and San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) worked to stabilize the car from the outside and inside of the building. Due to how it landed, officials said the removal process would take a while as they figured out how to safely tow the car without causing further damage.

Police said the driver of the car was not immediately located. 

They pulled up the car's VIN and began the process of locating its owner. A cellphone was found mounted inside the car, which police said they would also examine to determine who was in the car when it crashed.

A structural engineer was requested at the scene to evaluate the integrity of the building and determine whether it was safe for people to go inside.

No one was hurt in the crash.

NBC 7 spoke with Alex Atienza, who works for Ticor Title, a company that operates out of the office building. His cubicle was the area most impacted by the crash.

He was shocked to see his work space in such a state of disarray as he headed into work Friday morning.

Shattered glass, debris and bent and broken window blinds were left behind in an area that once housed his tidy desk and computers.

"Nobody got injured. We're so thankful for that," said Atienza, adding that no one was in the office at the time of the crash.

For now, Atienza said his work equipment has been relocated to another part of the office building.

He said he would go about his work day as best as he could Friday.

"It is what it is," he added. "We have to do what we have to do. It's the end of the month, end of the year, and we want to make sure all those requests -- titles, escrows -- have all been taken care of."

Still, the wreck remained lodged in the window for several hours Friday morning -- a huge disturbance to what otherwise would've been another typical day at the office.

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