OCEAN TOWNSHIP — Residents at the Middlebrook Apartment Complex are resting easy again this week after being evacuated from their homes as a result of a gas leak.

On June 4 at approximately 11:23 a.m., the Ocean Township Police Department and the Oakhurst Fire Department were called to the apartment complex in response to a vehicle that struck a building and caused a gas leak, according to police reports.

Ocean Township Police Officers arrived on scene and learned that a township woman drove a 1995 Nissan Sentra into a portion of the apartment building where the natural gas and electrical meters were located, according to reports.

The crash caused a natural gas leak, which prompted emergency personnel to evacuate the apartments in the building as well as in other adjacent buildings, according to police. New Jersey Natural Gas and JCP&L were both called to the scene and shut off gas and electric service to the building.

An investigation revealed that the woman was preparing to pull into a parking space and reportedly mistook the accelerator for the brake and drove into the building damaging the utility connections, according to police.

There was minor damage to the building exterior but no injury to the driver or passenger of the automobile.

The evacuated residents were allowed to return to their apartments shortly after the accident, according to police.

Gas and electricity services were restored to the building later that day. The woman was issued a motor vehicle summons for careless driving, according to police.