Store worker hurt as car hits carts

MERRIMACK – A supermarket employee was transported to a local hospital and a woman and baby escaped serious injury Monday when a Merrimack teen lost control of her car in a store parking lot.

Shaw’s Supermarket employee Jen Gonzales, 33, of Merrimack was treated and released at St. Joseph Hospital, where she was taken by ambulance after a 1998 Toyota Camry struck a line of carts she was pushing, police said.

Another woman, Catherine Sadhwani, 36, of Merrimack and her 7-month-old daughter were treated at the scene and were not transported, when the Camry also struck her car, knocking her down as well as the cart holding her daughter, police said. The incident happened at about 1 p.m. at the Shaw’s Plaza at 356 Daniel Webster Highway, police said.

Sadhwani, who was transferring her groceries into her car from a cart holding her infant daughter at the time, suffered a minor foot injury, police said.

The driver of the Camry, Hemmlly Souza, 16, of 31 Pondview Drive, told police she tried to brake upon seeing Gonzales pushing the carts in the parking lot and hit the accelerator.

The crash is under investigation, police said.