New London — A woman was taken to the hospital Thursday after her car crashed into the apartment building at 177 Jefferson Ave. but her injuries are believed to be minor, according to fire Battalion Chief Tom Curcio.

The crash happened about 3:40 p.m., Curcio said. He was not certain of the cause of the crash.

The car rammed through a handmade guardrail system of pressure-treated four-by-fours and 1-inch spikes that building owner Paul Dube had installed at the street edge of the sidewalk.

"If not for this wood, she's inside the hallway," Nestor Encarnacion commented, sticking his head out the window of his second-floor apartment. Encarnacion said he was in the bathroom when he felt the building shake.

A first-floor resident was inside and said "it sounded like a bomb went off."

Dube said his homemade guardrail system has to be rebuilt about once a year. He said accidents usually happen when there is snow on the ground and drivers coming down the hill at the eastern end of Walden Avenue can't make the stop at the intersection.

He said he would like to see the city put in a rail system with something like galvanized steel.

e.moser@theday.com