Diners were injured around 1:45 Sunday afternoon when, according to witnesses, an elderly woman hit the gas instead of the brake while parking at Noodles & Co. in Cameron Village.

Thomas Cameron, a sophomore in chemical engineering, and Karmen Wilkerson, an undeclared sophomore at Meredith College, were eating lunch inside the restaurant when it happened.

“Honestly, I thought I was going to get killed because by the time it had hit the curb, it was coming straight for where me and Karmen were sitting,” Cameron said. “I froze up. All I could do was watch it happen.”

Cameron said the tires shifted when the car hit the curb turning the car away from the window where Cameron and Wilkerson were sitting, but into those dining outside.

“There were two women sitting at an outdoor eating area,” Cameron said. “One of the ladies had jumped out of the way. And the car had hit this other lady. Basically it looked like it had pinned her against the [window frame].”

He said it was like a movie as the car continued to move after hitting the woman and breaking the store window, knocking chairs in the air and appearing to run over the woman.

“I thought she had gotten killed—and it happened in a matter of 3-5 seconds; it was so quick,” he said.

Wilkerson said when the car finally came to a stop, the driver was in hysterics.

“When me and Thomas came outside,” Wilkerson said, “the driver was already out of her car and she was like screaming, ‘I thought I hit the brakes. I thought I hit the brakes.'”

Wilkerson said there was blood running down the injured woman’s neck and it appeared some of her foot was missing in addition to having a deep gash on her upper right thigh.

“It had basically ripped into her leg,” Cameron said. “When I walked outside, I saw her muscles and her bones were ripped from her flesh. Like, it was hanging out. It was really bad.”

Cameron said, however, the woman was well cared for as several people on the scene, including Cameron, were CPR certified. They did what they could to help the woman — who appeared to have fainted — until responders arrived.

He said responders arrived within a couple of minutes, and took over.

Cameron said it must have been God protecting them, as they had almost eaten outside.

“We were on our way to sit out there, and then at the last second, as we were about to walk outside we decided to change our mind,” he said.

He said they would have sat at an open table that turned out to be right in the car’s path.

“It makes you really think about life,” Cameron said, “because had we sat out there it would have been over.”

Noodles & Co. Manager Shari Amanda said the restaurant was closed after the accident. She said there was an ongoing investigation, and therefore she could not comment.

The Raleigh Police Department was contacted for comment, but did not return several calls.