The destroyed bench.

TIFTON — A five-year-old girl drove a van into the Welcome Station in downtown Tifton Thursday at approximately 11:15 a.m.

According to Georgia State Patrol Trooper Will Hunt, the child took the keys while her grandmother was sleeping and drove the van from East 17th Street to the intersection of 5th Street and Main Street, where she tried make a right onto Main Street.

According to Hunt, she took the turn too wide and hit a white car which was in the turning lane on Main, then drove the van towards the Welcome Station, where it hit and partially destroyed a bench.

No one was injured in the accident and there was no significant damage to the building or the vehicles, according to Hunt.

The child was charged with driving while unlicensed, failure to maintain lane and not wearing a seatbelt.

An eyewitness, Chuck Willis, who was working across the street from the Welcome Station, said he heard the crash.

“I saw the van coming off the vehicle,” he said, referring to the white car, then watched the van hit the bench.

The driver of the white car jumped out and pulled the child out of the van, according to Willis.

The child then asked Willis and the other driver if they would help her push the van back onto the road so she could drive home.

“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t believe it,” Willis said.