Car Slams Into Oakland Park Restaurant
OAKLAND PARK (CBSMiami) – It was a rough ride to breakfast for a couple in Oakland Park who crashed their car into a restaurant early Tuesday morning.
Video from Chopper 4 shows a silver Toyota being towed out of the M&S Best Tropical Restaurant located at North Andrews Avenue and NW 38th Street.
According to Oakland Park Fire Rescue officials, the driver accidentally backed into the restaurant. He smashed through concrete and glass and ended up in the middle of the dining room.
The owners told CBS4's Natalia Zea that if this had happened just half an hour later, the results could have been deadly.
"I just hear the noise and I come here. When I come here I see the car parked over there," described restaurant owner Solange Saientil.
Saientil was cooking in the kitchen, getting ready to open for the day, when the driver crashed inside the restaurant.
She said it's a miracle she wasn't hurt and her husband agreed. He said if it had happened 30 minutes later, the dining room would have been full of breakfast customers.
"I'm glad because I'm not hit. Nobody hit, nobody died," said Moises Saientil.
Crews towed the car out of the building and left behind scattered debris. The two people who were inside the car were treated for minor injuries and taken to a hospital as a precaution. Restaurant employees say they are a husband and wife in their late 40s or 50s who eat breakfast at the restaurant every single day.
Now, Saientil has to deal with the insurance company, cleaning up this mess, and trying to keep this restaurant of 12 years going strong.
The Saientil's plan to keep the restaurant going by serving meals to go until the dining room repairs are made.
