Driver crashes Jeep into Yorktown Heights restaurant, no serious injuries
YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N.Y. -- Surveillance video shows the moment a Jeep driver left a bank parking lot and smashed through the back wall of a restaurant in Westchester County.
Workers at the restaurant said they're grateful no one was seriously injured, CBS2's Tony Aiello reported Friday.
"It was just not a good feeling at all," said Cassidy Woods, coming off a sleepless night that followed a frightening afternoon at Pappous Greek Kitchen in Yorktown Heights.
A Jeep came crashing through the restaurant wall, sending glass and cinderblock flying, moments after Woods sat at a table to roll silverware.
"It was just like a loud boom, and I just turned around and there's a Jeep behind me. My first instinct was just to get everyone out, make sure everyone's OK," said Woods.
Remarkably, no one was seriously injured - in part because Woods suggested a man dining with his child sit up front instead of at a table along the wall.
"He was crying in the parking lot. He's like 'I just want to hug her and thank her for recommending that table,' because it could have been a lot worse," said Rui Cunha, the restaurant's owner.
After speaking with the driver, a woman in her 60s, police determined there was no criminality.
"She seemed confused. My boss had to help her turn off the car. He helped her out through all the rubble and everything," said Woods.
The Jeep's high ground clearance allowed it to power over the bank parking lot curb and a retaining wall before hitting the restaurant.
"When you look at that parking lot from the angle that that vehicle came through, there are very few vehicles that could probably make this happen," said Yorktown Police Chief Robert Noble.
The crash gave the people at Pappous a strong sense of déjà vu. Something similar happened four months ago, when a driver drove down the hill from the bank lot and smashed into a table used by employees on break.
The restaurant has asked the bank to put up a barrier so it doesn't happen again.