Falling concrete in West Edmonton Mall parkade damages car

An Edmonton woman is stuck riding the bus for the next little while after chunks of concrete fell from the ceiling of a West Edmonton Mall parkade, smashing onto her car.

Raven Nickerson returned to her car in the parkade on Monday after completing her shift to find an unexpected sight.

“I walked outside where my car was parked and I saw something on top of it. And I was like ‘what is going on? Did somebody put something on my car?’

“Then I got closer and I noticed that it was a piece of concrete.”

The concrete, which Nickerson compared to a large brick, had left a large dent in her car’s roof.

Nickerson then circled her vehicle looking for other damage — and found that a second piece of concrete had shattered her rear window, and fallen into the back seat of her car.

“The window was literally just hanging by the window tint,” she said.

A note from the mall’s security workers had been left on the car, asking her to call them.

In total, Nickerson said the damage could cost just over $2,000 to repair. However, it’s still possible the car might be a total write-off, she added.

Asked whether the mall would be paying for the damages, Nickerson said it’s still up in the air.

“As of now, I’m not being provided a rental car and I have to take the bus to work.”

A spokesperson for the mall said this was an isolated incident, caused by the freeze-thaw cycle Edmonton’s seen this winter.

The spokesperson said they have done a full inspection of the parkade and found no other safety issues. Barriers will remain in place around the trouble spot until repair work is completed.

Nickerson, though, would like to see a bit more accountability.

“I feel like this was a really serious incident and it could have been a lot more serious — like if I had been standing there when it happened.”

“For me, I know I’m not going to park under there again,” she said. “I’m just thankful I wasn’t hurt and nobody else was hurt.”

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