Dozens of hotel guests were evacuated after a cab driver drove into a bank of meters in Mission Valley.
More than 80 people in 19 different rooms were evacuated from the Premier Inns Mission Valley Hotel on Hotel Circle Place around 2 a.m. Monday.
The driver told NBC 7 he was looking back, when his foot slipped onto the gas.
"All of a sudden, my foot slips from the pedal, from the brake, it was accidental," said Girmay Measho. "I was very close to the curb and jumped the curb."
He was not arrested, and no one was injured.
San Diego firefighters told NBC 7 there was a low concentration of gas in the area.
San Diego Gas and Electric crews worked to clean up the mess left behind so the hotel could return to normal operations.
